Quadrants
by Prinnyramza
Summary: It all started when Star found a book on alien romance. [References to Homestuck, but knowledge of that isn't needed].
1. The Set Up

**A/N: Made some minor changes. Somehow I didn't realized how janked up the graph was. 5/6/18**

* * *

In all honesty Marco had no idea where things went from the average variety type of weird to the super 'have no idea how to explain" bland of weird that he is life was currently drenched in.

It all started one afternoon, his best friend Star Butterfly was belly down, feet up on his bed reading a book of some kind while he was at his computer desk streaming an old martial arts flick. Suddenly the blond princess of an otherworldly dimension shot up, clutching the journal to her chest and giggling rhythmically as she fled back to the region of her room.

Actually hold on, he thought about that last sentence. It was probably then where things got strange.

It was kind of a red flag in retrospect, should've followed that up instead of finishing off that old Mackie Hand film that he already watched a dozen times over. Could've saved himself a lot of trouble if he only had distracted her with something. Probably food, Star had adventurous tastebuds and any new type of meal as a surefire way to get her attention.

It would've save him trouble in the long run because it wasn't even a week later when there was a ring at the doorbell. Diaz thought that maybe it was a package being delivered. Something they needed to be signed because he wasn't expecting company. Hell, he wasn't even sure that he, Alphonso and Ferg really even hung out these days. He probably should call them one of these days.

He open the door and came face to face with his- well he wasn't sure if he could call her his girlfriend. He would like to but well he'll have to change his online social status and she'll have to do the same and that is a lot of pressure to put on a man. Relax Diaz.

The matter was that Jackie Lynn was at his door and she didn't call him about coming over. At least be didn't think she did. He didn't forget a date or something. It's not like he could just play it off if he did. He was still wearing his usual red hoodie and while he had the luck to wear deodorant today it was some generic brand, because really generic products are just as good as that brand stuff but still he wanted to impress when he was around Jackie so he bought that stuff anyway.

"Hey dude, sorry for the short notice. Star invited us over." Jackie smiled in ignorance of whatever internal struggle that he was having, "She must've wanted a girls' night really bad or something."

"No problem. I mean your house is my house." wait did that sound weird? "That isn't to say that you actually own it or on the lease or something. Just that you can come in whenever."

Reel it back a bit Diaz, "That is to say 'if you want to' and you don't have to feel pressure to visit if you don't. Um, know what i mean?"

He frowned "Wait, we?"

He tilted his head and saw, standing right behind the girl of his dreams was the girl of his nightmares: Janna. "Hello Diaz."

Sigh, "Hey Janna," wait since when did she ever use the front door?

"Hey since when do you ever use the front door?" Good job Marco, said that without sounding too afraid of her.

"Since Thomas here wanted to be a killjoy." she gave her blonde a playful glare as she stood to her side and received a counter attack in the form of a tongue sticking out at her.

"Hey girls." Star held a high voice as she descended the stairs in two hops.

Marco grabbed the princess and turned her around so that his mouth was away from the guest, "Star," he said in a hush tone, "Why didn't you tell me that Jackie was going to be here."

"Marco when have I ever warn about someone coming over?" she spoke.

"That is true. Your house is the town bicycle of the neighborhood." Janna added in.

She frowned as the kid with the red hood gave her a confused look, "Please Diaz, just because I can't see your lips doesn't mean I can't hear you. Your quiet voice is a stage whisper more than anything."

"Anyway, now that you are all here", Star sidestepped pass her housemate and into the center of the three and announced that she needed all three to go to her room post haste. Marco figured that meant that Jackie was right and that Star justed wanted another sleepover, no matter how much of a disaster the last one they had was.

Through like last time he didn't really all to it. No matter how much having the permission to be the center of attention a bunch of girls seem to be a guy fantasy. In reality such things were nerve-wracking and brought up questions such as 'what do i talk about?' and 'is what I'm doing at any given point creepy?'

He figured however that he had to help get the girls settled for at least the time it took to get Starfan and Pony Head over here. Marco was sure that if this was another sleepover that Star couldn't resist inviting those two and when they arrived maybe he could slip away unnoticed. There was nothing they really needed a guy here.

"Okay ladies and Marco." Star pushed open the door and while the rest of her room was normal there was a set up in the center, easily seen from the doorway.

There were three chairs, surprisingly unfestive, they were just metal folding seats, the ones you'd see at a school dance or assembly. They were facing a projector screen. No projector in sight but that didn't stop the flat surface from having a square lit up right in the middle of it showing what could only be described as a face draw in the manner that it wouldn't look out of place in steamboat willie. "Welcome to a presentation brought to you by your very own Star Butterfly."

She twirled her wand and a pink light swirled around it before shooting out onto the metal seats. The legs of the chair elongated and started to bend as if they were legs.

They started to jump and skip a bout, all while neighing like a horse. The three seats directed their faces, if you could call the blank metal surface that you would usually rest your back on a face, over to the trio of room guest. They moved towards them and kneeled low to sweep them off their feet.

Marco yelped as Jackie laughed and Janna gave a small "woohoo."

The chairs circled around room once then twice as Marco and only Marco held onto the metal construct with a deathgrip. The chairs would suddenly stop in front of the disneyesque screen and slowly shrink, returning to normal.

Star slid her feet along "Ready screen?"

She gave it a wink and the projector screen giggled and winked back "Ready Star."

Star raised her wand and held onto the top of it. There was a click and the top started to move off like it was being held together by a hinge. What was revealed was a bright yellow button, which Star moved her thumb upon and pressed down until another click was heard. There were four familiar symbols.

Star filled up with pride "Now what do you see here?"

"Um" Marco looked to his side and the two girls gave a side glance back to him. Guess it was up to him to answer, "Card suites?"

"Wrong Marco", Star point the wand turn clicker at him. "I mean i would understand if you said something like royal birthmarks, but really card suits?"

"Royal birthmarks?"

"Ya, see." she turned around and pointed at the hearts, "This one is me," she began before shifting her arm over to the diamond, "and this one is my mom and well I don't know who the other two would be but they're probably not important."

Jackie smiled, "Nah Star. We totally have cards with those symbols."

Star stuck up her nose before answering "well in any case it doesn't matter cause we're both wrong."

She returned to the screen, "these right here are ancient romantic symbols."

"Romantic symbols?" Marco questioned, "I get the heart but I don't understand the rest of them. Isn't the spade just like a shovel?"

"I can understand a club." Janna smiled with teeth "Nothing better then the feeling of arming yourself against your enemies."

"Oh" Jackie seem to understand something, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Is it something like that. Y'know familial love."

"Close," Star point at her fellow blonde, "Diamond does have to do with something like friendship but this isn't about love. It's about romance."

Star pulled out a book with a purple cover with the same four card suits, "You see this book, It is a translation of the teachings of an ancient goddess upon discovering an alien race known as the alterians."

There was a click heard and suddenly on the screen was the image a stone carving. It was a statue of a tall robed woman with a symbol of a sun indented on her chest. The only detail that she was human or at least humanoid was the brief glimpse of the very bottom of her nose, down to her chin and a tiny bit of her neck.

"These guys apparently perform the whole courtship rituals way different than how they do things on earth or even Mewni." Star brought the book close to herself, "That isn't to say that they're the only ones who do love and junk differently. There are are some places out there that'll make you blush after looking at a spatula. You wouldn't believe."

"Nah I can think of a couple ways that'll be kinky" Janna muttered.

"These guys in particular" she sang, "were known for having a multi-relationship system which encouraged the expression of different emotions."

The trio of listeners looked at each other and shrugged. They each took turns looking each other in the eyes. Marco concentrated, "So they were polygamous?"

"Oh Marco," the princess cooed "poor innocent Marco. Poor poor vanilla Marco."

She reached over and patted her bestie on the cheek, "the book expressly states that each relationship is completely different and in fact they considered. Each one was separate from the other and idea that having each one was polygamous was just plain silly."

"So, to not cause any confusion. Please don't interrupt during the presentation."

Marco and Janna looked and each other and shrugged while Jackie mimed zipping her mouth closed.

"So to begin. We start with one of your math graphs except in this case it's a graph of love."

She pressed on the clicker and the image was modified to include words "They are separated into categories."

The graph changed to show four categories.

"These are Pity, Conciliatory, Hate and conscient." Star frowned, "Concrescent. Conicupiscent. Sexy time."

The magical girl lazily twirled her wand. A bubble of pink energy popped from the object creating a flash that both engulfed the projector screen and temporarily blinded her friends who she was lecturing.

The graph changed appropriatelyto Pity, Conciliatory, Hate and Sexy Time.

"So the first thing is Pity, and that is what the book kept on calling it. 'Pity that', 'Pity this', 'I pity him', blahblahblahblah blah. Just going on and on about it. It's basically like 'understanding' more then anything else." So begin the first part of the grand lecture.

"So you combine that with 'sexy time'" Marco didn't consider 'concupiscent' to be that hard of a word to say but he didn't bother to correct Star. When she was in one of those moods she was better left at peace. "You get me."

Star pointed at the heart on the screen while simultaneously poking her cheek. "And as far as I can tell that is all cuddling, sloppy makeouts and holding hands on the beach. Y'know couple stuff. And then you have mom here."

Star slide her hand over to the diamond. "She's like super best friends. Like tell them everything, spend every moment together besties."

That sounded simple enough, though there seemed to be no difference between the diamond romance and actual besties as far as Star's explanation went. "Also there's something about keeping each other from going on homicidal rampages, but we can cover that later."

Wait that sounded really important Star. "Next we have the shovel."

No serious Star, **homicidal** is not a word you can just bring up and then skip like it's nothing.

"This one is the sexy time hate romance." Oh well I guess we will never know what the explicit mention of murder was all about.

"Um Star." Marco finally interrupted. You might've wanted to have done that before when her highness was mentioning the 'killings' but whatever, " _Hate romance_ is a combination of words that I don't think work."

"I don't know about that." There was a lot of eyebrow moment coming from a rather smug looking hat wearing girl. "Can't you just imagine it, Diaz? A man and a woman engage in a battle to the death, clawing at each other's clothes. Eating at each other's throats. Not at all caring when their clothes rip and then-"

She seem to grow larger and was there globs of sweat rolling down Marco's neck. There were definitely globs of sweat.

"Easy girl." Jackie pulled on the back of the girl's neckline. Turns out Ordonia was appearing larger because she was leaning towards the boy.

"Don't want to scare him off." Jackie whispered in her ear.

Now they were smiling at each other and Marco was definitely sure that he didn't like that. He has never been afraid of Jackie before. No wait that's a lie, he has spent a life's journey avoiding her, but this was a different fear that had all to do with his bashfulness.

"Star why don't we continue on with the lecture. Everyone who wants to continue with the presentation, breathe. See everyone is breathing, everyone wants you continue your explanation." Well to be honest you were a bit too busy talking to breathe so it wasn't unanimous, "What does the Spade represent?"

"Actually Janna's pretty much right." Star stared at the filipina with a blush dashed across her face.

"She is?" Geez, Marco try to keep the pitch of your voice down. You said that with a frequency that could crack glass.

"Woohoo. Everybody hate snog." Marco didn't need to guess who said that.

"Yaya. Hate snog." That one deserved a turn of the head. Both Janna and Jackie were pumping their fist in the air, repeating an endless chant of "hate snog, hate snog."

Janna please try to be just a bit less of a bad influence of the skateboarder.

"So moving on to part two."

"What about the club?" Marco's voice intercepted Star's finger which hovered just above the yellow button.

"What about the club?" Star threw the question back.

"Aren't you going to explain the club?"

"You want to know about the clubs Marco? Well I'm going to be honest. I have no idea what the clubs' deal is. I read that dusty tome all night and I can't make head or tails of the clubs, but I'm going to blast forward with this whole thing anyway." Star breathed deeply, "Alien romance is hard, Marco. It's hard and _nobody understands._ "

Star slammed down on her wand clicker.

The projector flashed and suddenly there were faces on the screen. All of their faces drawn in simplified cartoonish glory.

"So you guys all remember the other day. When we were all worrying for nothing." Star reminded them, "Marco was worried that he'll be the third wheel between me and Jackie was worried about being a third wheel between me and Marco."

"I wasn't really worried about anything."

"And why am I here? I wasn't even with you guys." There was an obvious smirk, "Well as far you as you know."

"So to remedy our obvious suspicions and jealousy of each other, I have come up with this game plan." so Star were you just planning on ignoring the question? No wait she was clicking on the button again. She was definitely ignoring the peanut gallery.

The screen faces danced around the chart, "Let's start with Marco for example. Y'know since he's already got everything basically figured out."

The crude Marco drawing floated to the top of the graph. It smiled a dorky doodle grin. "So Marco already got two of the four down pat. We got him and Jackie acting all lovely dovey and me over here rockin that diamond; besties for life."

The respective drawings moved over their symbols on the graph. The Jackie head made a kissy face while the heart behind her beat. The Star head flash a smile as the diamond rocked left and right.

"So basically we're up here setting up boundaries." Janna offered an answer for the lecture.

"That still doesn't answer why Janna's here." Marco really needed a reason why Star invited the scary lady to his house. "Other than boundaries being something that she should've learned a long time ago."

Janna crossed her arms and pouted. Nice try but he was going to double down on that statement. You spend way too much time in his bubble of personal space.

"Ya about that." Star that laugh seems a little bit too forced.

The princess looked at the last remaining doodle on the screen without a position. "Psst, get over that shovel right over there."

Janna's head casually floated to the spade.

"No." Nope, nah-huh, no way in hell.

Marco's attempt to stand up was foiled when a magical force pushed him down into his seat. In this case the magical force was a hand shaped energy which radiated off of Star's wand. It poked him down with it's index.

"Marco, come on. Just listen please." Butt returned to seat, so did the giant energy appendage returned to the wand from which it came.

"Ya Diaz, hear her out on this." Janna tried to helpful to the mewman but only served to irritate Marco.

He knew enough to know that was probably her primary goal all along. It will most likely continue to be her primary goal in the future as it was in the past. "I'm pretty sure you're the last person I want to take advice from here."

"Please Marco." Sweet words came to his ears. They were however tainted by their intent.

"Jackie?"

Oh no, she was giving him that look. Doing that voice. Normally that was all it would take to put him under her spell. "Won't you hear her out."

It wasn't going to work this time. He couldn't allow it, "Why are you on her side? She's trying to make me do **things** with Janna."

"Ya and it's funny." Marco didn't want to be a boyfriend (still wasn't sure if that was his official title) who tried to check anyone but maybe he could request that she spent a little less time with Janna.

She tried again, "Star obviously worked really hard on it."

"Diaz, right don't you put one on me right now?" Janna puckered her lips, taunting him. Daring him to try.

"Hate snog, hate snog, hate snog!" Once again the furious chanting of the two girls continued again. This time they were joined by a third.

"Star, don't you use British vernacular on me. You don't even know what a 'British' is." She didn't. She didn't even know that China was a country. To her lo mein was the closest association to China there was.

Star paused but the two other girls continued their rioting, "Hate snog, hate snog, hate snog!"

"Of course I do Marco." the princess thought about it, "It's a pastry or something."

"No." if looks could kill.

"A cake, a custard, waffle."

"Hate snog, hate snog, hate snog!"

"It's not a desert."

"Marco I'm not going to stand here discussing sandwiches all day." Her finger drew an invisible line between Marco and Janna, instructing jim to his assigned fate, "You grab your hate friend and lay one on her this instant."

"Hate snog, hate snog, hate snog!"

"No!" Marco stood before any magical intervention could be cast. "And quit it with the **hate snog hate snog** , I'm going to be in my room."

He stomped out the door and out of sight from the gang of teenage femme fatales. Not before Janna got a glimpse of that tush.

"Oh that things that I'm going to do to that boy." she purred, "Thomas, you're sure you'll cool with me going after your boy."

"Ya Jan, this is hilarious." One could say that when it came to Jackie and Janna, that the two got drunk of each other's atmosphere, "Besides under Star's system, I think that between me and her we both got a 50-50 share each."

"Star." The duo looked at the project leader.

Stat gave a smirk that let them know that they were all up to no good, "Janna Banna by the time we're through, Marco is gonna hate you so bad, you'll be irresistable."

They all could live with that.

"Nice. I think I'm gonna have to borrow that book." she pointed at the purple tome that started all this, "I'm going to need the inspiration."


	2. Will You Walk Into My Parlour?

It's an amazing thing just how quickly the human mind can adapt. All someone really needs is routine, a pattern to follow and anyone can start to get the hang of a bad situation. Let's take Marco Diaz for example. Over the last few days he has learned, come into terms with and accepted the fact that he will probably never be safe sleeping in his own bed ever again.

So during the night when he had the choice between self-preservation and sleep, he of course chose sleep every single time. A bit unlike himself, he was known as the safe kid for a while but he was weak. His punishment today, for what crime he didn't know, had already kicked in and he hadn't even opened his eyes yet.

He found that he couldn't move his arms. They were stuck closely together to his torso. Taking a deep breath he prepares himself for the worst and popped open one of his eye lids.

Of course sitting right on top of him was Janna Ordonia. He was not at all surprise. After all according to legend sleep paralysis was commonly caused by succubi. "Hey Diaz. Sweet dreams?"

He twisted his wrist and they chafed. The boy looked down and finally realized why. Chest down there was a mass of rope. He of course would will together every inch of his combined years of martial arts mastery and break free of these restraints just not now. Maybe after he had coffee or perhaps a bowl of cereal. Despite keeping a strict morning schedule he was actually not that much of a morning person. "They were actually. Then I woke up. Now I would like to get ready for school."

He gave a good shove against his restraints for show. This was met with a bored expansion from his captor who, sitting sideways swung her legs back and forth in a rhyme.

"Sure thing." She began to hum right as she pushed off him. Her feet hit the group with a soft thump. Janna did not untie him. She skipped out of the room, "By the way. You're out of cereal."

Strange, considering he was sure that he still had half a box left. By the time he was able to free himself, he was already way behind schedule. When he went down to confirm that she had been telling the truth, it was far too late for him to actually make something to eat.

* * *

He had to go to class hungry. Thankfully even with the delay he still had time to meet Jackie at his locker. One of the many privileges he got to fully enjoy as a boyfriend.

She greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. Well kinda of a kiss. It was given as an afterthought as she swung her arms around him, stopping her from a rare but disastrous crash. He wasn't going to complain about it and it didn't hurt that she was able to play it off very smoothly. "Hey Marco."

"Hiya Jackie." He smiled at her. He tried to make his grin as cool as possible. Did it look cool? He hoped it look cool. The safe kid extended his pointer and his finger followed something in his girlfriend's grip, "Hey. What's that?"

"Oh, little birdie told me that you missed breakfast. Thought I'd bring you something." The object turned out to be a tin, wrapped in yellow paper with a red plastic cap sealed right on top. She wiggled it in the air, tempting him to just grab the container.

"Thank you Jackie," Marco roared and smiled. He palmed the tin and hooked a fingernail underneath the red top. He frowned and stopped. "Is this a trick?"

"Come on Marco. Am I known to play tricks on you?" Jackie fluttered her eyelashes at him. Normally he would see the act as flirtation and desirable but the timing only made it more suspicious in his eyes.

"No" He drew out. Eyes narrowed as he clawed playfully at the red plastic, "but Janna would."

"Come on." She whined, but didn't lose her usually relaxed smile. She shook her hips as she placed her hand on her sides, "Would I really double team you with Janna? I'm pretty sure that's like against the rules. Well maybe. I actually didn't read the book."

He didn't move a bit. "There is totally something awful in this bin."

Jackie started to play with hair before she leaned forward. Thier shoulders touched. "There isn't, I promise."

Having nothing to lose other than his dignity, and let's face it Jackie wasn't dating him for his surplus of that, he decided to bite the bullet and open the suspicious object. Ripping it with all the care of a bomb squad operative and flinching with the grace of a high school girl in a horror ror movie. It nearly dropped it. In fact it was in the air for a moment. He had to juggle it for a moment before it stabilized back between his palms.

Nothing happened.

Marco believing that he had taken the worst risk that he already could, peeked inside the cylinder like someone looking straight down the barrel of a shotgun. He raised an eyebrow and tipped over the tin, dropping onto his palm a tiny plastic bag. Just some peanuts, the sack they were in was tied close by ribbon.

"Thanks Jackie." He straighten his back and smiled. He scratched the back of his head, "Man I think I got a little bit paranoid there."

"You think" thankfully Jackie sounded way more amused than annoyed, "Besides Janna been standing behind you with the rigged tin for like ever."

"Wha?"

Sure enough there was a pop and 'snakes' started flying everywhere. Nearly gave him a heart attack. It wasn't all that bad to be honest. Fake snake in a tin was like the oldest prank in the book, almost a cliche at this point. He almost wished that all of Janna's pranks were this harmless.

Though she did seem to put a bit more work into it than was necessary. For example they were painted really well, almost lifelike in detail. They must've had a motor or something in them cause they were shaking about. One even slid down his collar. They felt smooth to the touch they hissed, stuck out their tongue and "these are real snakes, aren't they?"

"You know they are." The she devil whispered in his ear. Marco breathed in, breathed out and walked away with saying a word.

"Don't worry none of those are poisonous. Found most of them in my garden." Janna cries out as the karate boy fled. She gave a laugh and then turned over to the blonde. "Thanks for the assist Thomas."

"I wasn't trying to help. I just didn't stop you neither." Jackie bobbed her head from one aide to the other slowly.

"I think you just figured out the tagline for our friendship." Janna spread out her arms in the air as if she was reading a banner.

"More or less. Hope Marco is alright." Jackie pondered.

Janna raised an eyebrow. The look she was giving Jackie made the skateboarder wonder if she grew a second head. Actually scratch that. Janna would probably find that incredible. "You asking if the kid who can punch through an army is alright?"

"Fighting is one thing. He can be a little bit sensitive." Jackie felt a little relieved at finding a fitting word.

"Ya it's awful." Janna rolled her eyes before she leaned into her pal. "He's the one chose to date."

The blonde shook her head. There was a small gentle smile right on her face. She looked like she was dreaming. "I wasn't saying it's a bad thing. In fact it's something I really like about him."

"Janna." Star shouted right in Jackie's ear, spooking the ghost right out of her. The princess skipped around her fellow blonde so she could swing onto the filipina. "So how's things going with Marco?"

"They aren't." Janna groaned despite the affection she was receiving from the magic girl hanging off her neck.

"No." Star started to droop down, putting on her best impression of a puddle. "But didn't you change all of his passwords?"

"Yup" Janna admitted.

"Shave his only chest hair?"

"Uh huh"

"Swear his soul to a legion of evil spirits?"

"Ya, it's going to be hilarious when they come to collect." Janna chuckled. That wasn't the first group she promised her friend to and it wouldn't be the last. No one realized that his spirit rightfully belonged to her. "Maybe we should rethink this whole alien romance thing."

"No don't say that. If it can work for the altarians, it can work for us. You just got to go out there and be aggressive." Star pulled herself up by Janna's shoulders.

"Or we could think about this another way." Jackie offered.

Star turned around and eyed the blonde. She did her best impression of a late 70s, early 80s star of a show she had never seen nor heard of. "What you talkin bout Jackie?"

"I'm just saying Janna has had a lifetime to get Marco to hate her. I think there might be more to this than just aggression." Jackie gestured to Ordonia who could only nod in agreement. "Could I get a swing at that romance guide?"

"Oh Jackie Jackie Jackie. You got to trust me. After all I am the true romance master here." Star patted her on the shoulder. "I don't want to overwhelm you with all that jazz anyway. It can be pretty complicated stuff."

"I-" Did Star just do what Jackie thought she did. It was probably just in her head. "Thanks but I'm a bit curious anyway. Janna?"

Said guide was pulled right out of Marco's locker. "Knock yourself out."

"Jawesome."

* * *

As said before humans can get used to anything pretty quickly. Marco, for example got used to the fact that Janna will continue to mess with him until the end of his days. He's not freaking out about that. He freaking out because that chaos for whatever reason stopped. After school opened the Diaz boy hadn't seen a sign of the troublemaker even in the cases that he shared with her.

Now both could be explained. It wasn't as if Janna had the best track record with attendance and maybe, and this was him thinking crazy, Janna got the hint that all this 'courting' she was doing was just not going to work, that aliens with completely different mindsets didn't have cultural pastimes that mended with the human psyche. What more likely was that she simply got bored and would scurry off until she thought it was time to poke at him again.

It was rationally what happened but that thought didn't keep him from second guessing every step he took. Not that overthinking it would help. He would fall straight into whatever trap that girl would set up for him regardless of however he acted. It was pointless. But he must have done something right because next thing he knew he was a block away from his home. The remainder of the day went without the other shoe dropping.

When he got to the door, his girlfriend offered him a kiss. He then rejected it. Just kidding, did you honestly think he would refuse? He accepted it the way you think he would. By being eager, than a little embarrassed at how eager he was, than finally by trying to act cool in a way that guaranteed he would be kicking himself later but Jackie still found cute for some reason.

Marco kissed her goodbye and started to make the trip in his home, back up to his room.

"Hey Marco." He nearly tripped over Star. She was underside down, sprawled out on the stairs, not concerned with how safe that was if gravity chose to intervene. "Hey, hey. So I told Ponyhead that I'd go club hunting with her. So can I borrow your scissors?"

"Ya sure Star. Have fun." Marco was prepared to step over the princess but was blocked by a stretched out hand.

"Scissors please." She smiled sweetly. Star was making a 'give me' motion with her fingers.

Marco scrunched up his face, "I thought you already had my scissors."

"Nah. I left them in your room after the last time I used them." Star explained, sliding down on step.

Alright. He didn't know why Star didn't just go there in the first place. It wasn't as if he ever said no. Than again he was lucky to have a best friend who was considerate enough to ask even if she knew he would always say yes. She might've learned that after the whole giant beard incident. It was a good trait to have. Other people could desperately learn it.

He expected the computer to be on his desk next to his computer or something. No luck, but just because he couldn't find his scissors didn't mean he found nothing.

There was a note. The paper was a bit crinkled up and the handwriting was a mess but he could still read and understand it. Marco let in a sharp breath and hissed. He crushed the message in his hand and walked away.

"Hey Marco. Did you find your scissors?" Star still spread out on the steps watched as Marco stomped passed her. He paid her no mind, opting instead to quickly leave out though the front door.

Star blinked and then smiled. She pulled her compact out from her skirt. Well it more that it fell out then pulled out, but either way the mirror dropped in her palm. She flipped it open and brought it to her lips. "Hey it's Star. Marco just left."

She paused.

Than rolled her eyes, "Sorry sorry. Shadow Queen. This is Day Moth. Day Moth to Shadow Queen, Target Hate Friend has left the-"

Star blinked, not quite knowing the vocabulary needed in this situation. The voice on the other end piped in. "Oh perimeter. Target Hate has left the perimeter."

"Hey Marco. What's up." Jackie blinked. His girlfriend was just hanging out side his home for some reason. She leaned back. Her shoulder blades pressed against the front door way of the Diaz household. Her boyfriend suddenly barging out nearly unbalanced her but she kept her composure anyway.

Her boyfriend for once actually didn't seem to say anything. Not like before they started dating where he was way too shy and nervous but more like he didn't even realize she was there.

It was so different than how he usually was.

It was perfect.

Jackie took out her cell phone and brought it to her ear, "Hey Shadow Queen, it's Blue Stripe. Target is heading straight to you."

* * *

The outskirts of Echo Creek were the definition of nothing. Not nothing like long barren fields. That could describe as rural or natural, but nothing as in no one outside of whoever known the buildings could possibly care about what happened it. It was just storage building after storage building.

Worst was that it was in the middle of the suburbs. You could imagine that in the city, in an area where so few people gathered that something dark and mysterious would happen. No, none of that here. Usually.

Marco had no idea why his little note told him to come here. He didn't try puzzling it together. He didn't care at that moment. What he did do what he did do was try to kick a door open.

It was on top of a short stack of steps. He couldn't really get a good running running start. He did reach back and one leg and slam his sole against the handle. That nearly caused him to tumble back. He got a good kick or two before realizing there was a note on the wall a little bit to the right side of the door. It was a post it with a key taped on it.

Come in and receive your prize :3

Man, that was exactly the type of corny line that he would expect coming from her. It had that weird flirtatious underline that she loved to creep him out with. It didn't work, thanks to both the written word having less power than the spoken and because he was just not in the mood for whatever she was pulling.

Marco cracked the door open just enough for him to slipped in. He eyes traveled the dark room. It looked like a normal building, maybe or was a bit more industrial than most, but still normal. He relaxed.

He knew that was a mistake, but his brain let him do it anyway. There was a combination of screeches and static, the usually combination cause by a PA system.

It caused him to whine, even before she heard Janna's voice, "Hey Diaz. Glad you came. Could you just deal with something for me real quick. Thanks."

Deal with what? That was incredibly vague.

He heard a low vibrating growl. Saw teeth shining in the darkness. He wanted to curse and make demands but it wasn't as if she could hear whatever he said. Instead he picked up a stance and prepared for a fight.

* * *

There was a fit of laughter as Marco charge in. It was too far away from him to hear it, but closer than one would think.

Janna had to admit that this whole supervillain set up that she had going wasn't how she usually went about doing things but it was entertaining as all hell. She had to thank Star and Jackie for helping her set this all up, Jackie giving her the broad strokes of the plan and Star for the heavy lifting. She really made her dad's old storage unit into a real lair where she could ride the reins of the world.

She traced the outside of her pocket and felt the outline of the dimensional scissors. She had a hard time believing that this of all things cause Diaz to finally show some backbone. He charge straight ahead into what he must've known was a trap. It would at least keep him busy for a while, he could take a little time.

Janna would be good for a little bit. She had a old couch to crash on. It looked a bit beaten but that just meant less resistance. Also if she dangled her fingers down she was in reach of a cooler filled with a couple sodas.

Her phone was in her hand, near full at ninety. She didn't really need much of anything else until he reached up. She'd just browse the internet on her phone. It wasn't like she could track him as he went further in. The security app her dad had was only connected to the two cameras right at the front door. It was basically worthless after he knocked down that wolf she had Star conjured up.

Shame, those traps sounded fun when Star and her was brainstorming them. He would have to fight a hydra, travel through a maze of crystals and lights to fight his doppelganger, battle against a horde of lost souls trapped in penguin costumes, and find a solution to the endless hunger of a physical god.

Her ears twitched as she picked up with a tapping noise, metal scratching against metal. There was always the possibility that Diaz could completely avoid most of his assigned task by just busting open a few locks.

Janna kicked her feet, one after the other until she had the the momentum to sit up straight. She blinked

"Huh, clever" was all she could say before being pounce on with all the might of a mountain lion. That didn't hurt, not much. She practically melted into the sofa but it was a bit obvious that her assailant didn't really seem to care if it did hurt.

Good.

"Sup." Janna said, trying hard to make it look like she didn't care that the not was currently mounting her. She only partly succeeded. There was a definite smile on her face. One you would give when you're trying not to laugh.

Marco was pinning her down on the couch. He didn't look worse for wear despite the initial challenge that had been set against him. He pressed against her, "Where are they?"

"Where's what?" She tilted her head to one side, overacting innocence.

"Janna."

"Sorry, but I've taken a lot of things from you. Are you talking about your keys, your wallet, your social security card?" She mentally tacked the number of items she had stolen from him and added to her collection.

"Janna." He repeated.

"Man I just love hearing you shout my name like that." She batted her eyes only to be meet with a unchanging glare. "Okay, okay. Hold on. I got it right here."

He didn't lift his weight, not completely. He eased up but he still had her pinned down enough that he should she wouldn't escape.

Then suddenly his eyeballs erupted in pain. If he had been able to see maybe he wouldn't have notice the orange goo that began coloring his face but he certainly would see the black tube that Janna was grasping in one hand. He didn't think about his movement and rolled off to the side. The girl stood up, giving the container a small toss in the air before catching it. "Oh wait. Sorry, mix up. That's the pocket I keep the pepper spray in."

She dug deep into both of her pockets. She retreated the pepper spray and took out Diaz's prize. "See here we go. Here are the scissors."

Marco clawed at his eyes, trying to rub the liquid away. It worked, short of. He definitely saw a blurry shape. It was enough for him to work with, he spun on the ground and hook his foot from behind the figure.

One of Janna's feet knocked into the other, completely tripping the girl. Unfortunately she didn't fall on the couch this time and instead her chin felt the blunt force of gravity thanks to the thin metal floors. The pair of blades swam through her fingers. Both of them could hear the scissors skid across the floor.

Both of their ears perked. They pinpointed the generally direction of the spatial tool. Marco leaped but he was anchored down suddenly. He twisted and looked back at his legs. He could clearly see Janna holding him down. Her nails was threatening to pierce his legs through his jeans.

He scoffed up his face and yelled "What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with me? Dude, what is even your problem?" She scowled right back at him.

He tried to crawl away, but she wasn't letting out. If anything she seemed committed to making a trophy out of his pants. She had her claws so deep that they began to slip. He only just barely had enough sense into him to stop her from stealing them. Marco pinched the width of his pants and pulled up, while throwing a weak kick at the general direction of the girl's face. "My problem is that I have a nut clinging to me."

Janna goaded him. "Then do something about it."

"Don't you think I'm trying?"

"No I don't." Janna spoke, "Cause I've seen you really kick."

The girl tightened grip and Marco could feel her nails press though his jeans, across his skin until she balled her hands into fist. Janna pulled herself forward. She climbed, moving up to his hoodie. Marco using both arms tried to push her back but she reached for him blindly. She didn't know where her hand went. She thought that maybe it was cupping his face. No, not cupping, that sounded too nice. Her nails was definitely taking a little bit of skin from his cheek and nose.  
Diaz's foot wandered until he could find footing. He found it in Janna's stomach and used some force to cast her away.

She breathed deep and found some strength to lunge, moving her hand behind his head. She brought it towards her face and stared deep into his eyes, "Why are you letting me do this?"

"I'm not letting you do anything." He grabbed her wrist and tried to get her to let go of his face.

"You fight monsters." She launched herself up, trying to pin him down. Her face hovered over his. "How have you realize how hardcore that is? Silver Prep has legends about you after they nearly got killed playing a game here, but somehow you let let yourself get beaten around by like a five year old annually."

"He had brass knuckles." Marco sputtered back.

"Not like you once fought a some guy who literally had maces for fist." Janna rolled her eyes. She pressed down on his cheek. "Get real Diaz. Cause I'm completely done with you pretending to be so pathetic."

"Maybe I actually have self control unlike you." He punctuated his sentenced with a swift kick to gut.

It hit her so hard it nearly cause her to sit back up. She bounced on her bottom and fell to one side. She lifted her torso, ignoring a throbbing in her rear. "Or maybe you just love being the absolute worst."

"Oh I'm the worst?" Marco stood. "Have you seen your grades?"

Janna looked up at the ceiling. Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Wow Marco, I'm so hurt."

"Shut it. You're the biggest nerd I know." It was his turn to attack. He leaped at her and she rolled back. Her feet met his chest and she caught both his wrist.

He spat at her, "You read our school library. I should know. I volunteer there."

"Of course you do." That was not a surprise.

"But somehow you pretend not to have any idea about what's going on in class. It's like you're actively trying to avoid looking good."

"Who even cares. I just do my own thing."

"Oh really, cause if I remember your favorite color is pink. You'd think you be all over that, after all you don't care about what people think. Then again, you lied about that. Maybe you're lying about all of this." He seem to ignore her legs, moving in closer until his face was an inch from her's.

Janna snapped, "Oh you are not calling me a poser."

"I didn't call you that, but thank you giving me just the right word." Marco sneered.

Janna let go of him and flicked her wrist, pulling out her pepper spray once more. It got him in the ear but he grabbed her arm and twisted it, causing her to drop the device. He flipped her over and forced her arm behind her back.

It was just in time her for to push her head forward and reel back. The top of her skull knocked him square in the nose.

He cup his palm over his nosil in reflex and she scurried away from him. He pinched it lightly, making sure no damage was done, "You could do whatever you want, but you just spend all your time messing around, trying to look tough."

Janna stood up and swept her arm around her head. She didn't notice when her hat dropped off. Her focus was on clearing some sweat that she didn't even notice collecting on her forehead.

Diaz saw an opportunity. He was on his feet before she knew it. He swung his hips and checked her. She was nearly knocked against the wall. He scoop up her hat and held it up, presenting the item to the room. He trusted it down on his head and laughed, "How does it feel when someone takes something of yours? Too bad it's just this stupid hat."

"Stupid?" She reached out to him. He tried keeping her away. He was a bit successful. She ended up pulling on his hoodie, but couldn't get her own article of clothing back. "Oh no. Stupid would be the guy who bought fifty sets of the same outfit."

She jumped and he skipped backwards. Next thing be knew there was the sound of something shredding. His arm felt colder. He gained some distance and looked at his appendage and saw the biggest gash in his top. He gasped, "Oh crud. This was my favorite hoodie."

He twirled and pulled the top off, not only to inspect it but to prevent any further damage to the cloth. It was thrown to the side. Any tear could be fixed later. He had business to attend to.

Janna was looking a bit pleased with herself. A pretty normal expression on her face. He always hated it and figured that than was the time to wipe it off her mug. He was thinking 'an eye for an eye.'

Marco walked slowly up to her. He stared her right in the eye, grabbed both sleeves of her overshirt and yanked down.

The girl blinked and turned around, attempting to break his hold. It worked for a second but he grabbed on again and the jacket started to come off in the struggle. It slipped off one arm and when he tried to get the other, she jabbed her head forward and bit him right on the arm.

He pulled back, the sharp pain made him flinch enough that he got the other sleeve off. It took him a moment to realize what she did but when he had, he felt heat rise up from his chest to his face, "Oh no. If you're going to bite, I'm going to bite back."

He did. He didn't really care where. Her arm, her chin, wherever he could get his jaws to. He didn't know how but he somehow got to her neck of all things. His teeth trace against her skin. He could almost taste her sweat.

There was no hesitated when he brought his teeth down and Janna made a noise that he would never describe to anyone out of pure embarrassment.

He paused, eyes opened wide. It only then dawned on him how that act would look like to a third party. He didn't let her go, but he did pull his face away and got a good look at the girl. Janna was giving him the same smirk she always did. That was a lie. Her usual smirk didn't give her cheeks a red streak across them. Nah did it ever looked that alluring.

"So biting is allowed right?" She said slowly. Her voice was shaky like she couldn't decide if she wanted to talk or if she simply wanted to breath so she did both. It was different, but this was definitely Janna standing in front of him. He has no idea what to do. Thankfully she did. She pulled on him, bending him to her. She jammed her teeth into his, a remarkable imitation of a kiss.

Signals fired to his brain, he didn't know if it was from the fight they just had or from what was happening now, but he just knew that whatever she was doing to him, he had to do it to her harder. He kicked off the ground and charged. He rammed her back into a wall and bit down on her lips.

* * *

The volume of the television went up. That did nothing to overtake the array of noises that Star was making however. TV, seemed like a good idea to pass the time, Jackie thought, but Star as impatient spent most of the time humming and sighing over her compact.

The princess was bored, she understood that, but she didn't need to be so actively bored. "Hey, so do you think your whole thing worked out?"

"They've been away for this long. Either they're finishing up that whole alien cultural hate thing or they murdered each other." Jackie shrugged. She press a button and the volume went up one notch.

"God, I hope not. I like those two." Star leaned back.

Jackie just waved at the princess, "Just trust me."

"You think everything is going to go perfectly?"

"Nothing is perfect. I just figured that Marco would let Janna do mostly anything he wanted because he didn't really think it was worth it. We needed something that would make him stand up for something." There was more to it than that, Jackie had read. There had to be level ground between the two. Normally Janna went with hit and run tactics. Didn't really give the guy a chance to react, let alone fight back. She read the in order for this romance to work that both sides had to be more or less equal. Giving Marco a way to win would at least let him have a chance against her friend. "So scissors."

Star rolled her eyes, before flicking the compact open and close. "I know, you told us this. Just because you skimmed through the book doesn't mean you're an expert you know."

"I know that." Jackie said slowly. She didn't want to mention that was the exact thing Star did. She paused another bottom on the remote, changing the channel.

* * *

If anyone was at the outskirts of Echo Creek, they would've bear witness to a gaggle of unique noises followed by a strangle quiet. The storage unit was the same as ever. It was still in one piece and still housed Marco and Janna, but the two of them were in a heap, a sweaty out of breath heap.

Janna stared at the ceiling. Mentally preparing herself she tried to get up. She went as far as sitting using both her elbows for support. She scratched her exposed stomach, letting her hand wander until it found the bottom of her shirt that was slightly hiked up. She pulled it back down. "Woah that was terrible."

"That was awesome." Marco didn't need a moment. He just popped right. He had a look like he just found enlightenment.

"We should do that every day." Janna even with with complete exhaustion could just smile.

Marco swallowed. His mind flipped completely. He gasped. "We should never do that again."

"What?" The two yelped at each other.

Janna flinched and immediately regretted it. Damn she was sore. "Oh come on Diaz, you just went as far as you could in a PG13 flick and your backing out now?"

"Hey, you just said this was awful." Marco argued.

She knew what she said. "Ya, but that because I went head to head with a guy tough enough to fight a bear."

"Bearicorn." Marco corrected.

"Whatever." Janna scoffed. She shook her head and continued, "My body will get used to it. I know you had fun and Star and Jackie had a little bit to do with this so it's not like you don't have the okay. What gives?"

"Janns this. This was-" He started, "I felt-" but he couldn't seem to find the right words, "I just not sure if I could keep up with you."

"Keep up with me? Gosh, you're dumb." She said a bit sharper than her usual teasing. Than again this whole thing was a bit further than her usually teasing.

He growled, "Hey. Watch it."

"Or what. Gonna make me?" She said and he knew she would love nothing more for him to try. The lack of a reaction caused her to completely deflate, "Marco. Do you think I'm perfect or something?"

"No," He said almost too quickly.

She gave him the old stink eye and he shrank back. Janna let out a sigh before casting her sights to a far corner of the room.

"Want to know what I absolutely hate about you?" She took his silence as permission to continue. "Like okay. So long time ago, in kindergarten, I met this one kid. He was a complete know it all, raised his hand at everything. Thought he was unbearable, like anyone else would. He was even a real teacher like you would expect and don't even get me started on his major acne outbreaks during junior high."

Marco bumped against the side of her, "Janna I get it. I'm a huge nerd."

Ordonia laughed and readjusted her, "Oh I'm just getting started. Cause I realize when i absolutely hated about this guy. Cause his whole teacher pet thing wasn't a teacher pet thing. It applied to everyone. He always went around trying to be all helpful like be was trying to prove something. Always trying to tell everyone how much of a badass he was even though everyone sort of knew. He always acted like he had to be better than he was and he never realize that people already liked him the way he was."

She swallowed and looked right at Marco. He didn't say anything but the look he gave her caused her to hesitate. Being nervous was unlike Janna, but that was the only way she could describe how she felt, "It wasn't just that he tried building himself up. It was that while he was doing all that, he made himself worst. He never helped himself, didn't took credit when he should, never took chances that were a sure thing, never won battles that he never should of lost. It's like he doesn't even know how good he is."

Marco let her words sink in. "Wow. Janna I never knew you thought about me like that."

"You? Who said I was talking about you?" Janna muttered. She avoided looking at him.

"I feel the exact way about you." He smiled. He blinked. He looked surprise that came from his mouth. "I mean. This is this one girl I go to school with it and from as long as I remember she was just a menace. She didn't just ignore the rules, she made it her mission to break them. I thought she was just being dumb but that wasn't it.'"

"Then out of nowhere she just started to stick around me and no matter how much I told her to leave me alone she wouldn't. I hated it. It didn't matter if things were going great, or everything sucked, she was always there. I never wanted to admit that when things were terrible that her messing with me made me forget, at least a tiny bit, why I was feeling bummed to begin with. I could just focus on her. I began to realize that she wasn't too dumb to follow the rules. She was too smart. She was smart enough that if she had an issue she could solve it just like that." He started to realize just how embarrassing this was, "She helped me and if she could do that, why not everyone else? If she wanted she could help so many people. I just hated how she wasn't being the best version of herself. If she wanted, she could do anything."

It felt like something bursting. There wasn't an explosion. In fact there was nothing. They just sat there, not even looking at each other, until suddenly Janna just yelled.

It was a low growl, like a buzzer. She stuck out her tongue, "Damn Diaz, could you be any more sappy?"

Marco gasped at how she shifted the blame onto him. "What? You're the one who started it."

"Whatever." She spat, "So we let's be honest. We both think the other one sucks."

"Is that what we decided?" Marco tilted his head. He wasn't too sure how she got that conclusion.

"Of course. You admitted it just now. I annoy you so much that you forget about everything else." She paraphrase, wiggling her eyebrows.

He was aghast, "There were compliments in there."

"I vaguely remember: 'i'm not the best version of myself.'" She quoted. She shoved him playfully, "Think you could be a better Janna, Diaz?"

"I'm not saying that had a little to do with my 'misunderstood bad boy' act, but it wasn't completely unrelated." He admitted.

The filipina cringed. Him trying to convince everyone he was a bad boy was one of the most awkward things she saw freshmen year. "Oh my god you have to stop."

"You know what? Nah." Marco grew smug, "After all this hoodlum needs to express how 'good he is.'"

"I'm going to kick you." She fulfilled her promise before he could even respond.

He countered with a quick shove.

The two resumed they're fighting. They exchanged blows, the soft words were gone but not entirely forgotten.

"Hey Janna I told you if you're going to bite, I'm going to bite back."

"Go ahead." She couldn't help but giggle.


	3. Hypothetical Marco

**A/N: I actually posted this ages ago on Ao3, but forgot to send it over here too. Working on the next chapter. Hopefully I can get that out soon.**

 **A/N: 5/1/19: Added a scene to the end of this chapter to help the flow of the story along.**

* * *

"Marco, stop" She couldn't have possibly sounded less serious. There was a fit of out of control giggles as Jackie was assaulted by barrage of kisses from her boyfriend.

This was new. This wasn't usual Marco behavior. This the same boy who would second guess himself when holding her hand. She didn't mind his usual antics, but it was nice it have him shower her with affection. It was a shame she had to end it. Her palm guided him gently away, "For real, we got to get to class."

"Ya for real. You guys are going to make me gag." Janna took the first opportunity to remind the two where they were. At school, their usual meeting place right in front of Marco's open locker. In front of the teenage population who would feel really awkward if the two got any more passionate where they could all bear witness. "Which is impressive since I once mummified a cat."

The boy rolled his eyes before stepping towards the filipina. She winked at him. "What Diaz, going to give me a smooch too?"

She didn't fight it as he place his hands on her mid section. It almost looked for a second that be was going to fulfill her prompt, but soon she felt pressure on her armpits. Her legs felt weightless. He lifted her up, took two steps forward and dropped her into his locker.

"See ya Jackie." Marco didn't even acknowledge Janna as he slammed the door shut. He strutted to class feeling more confident than ever.

"You know that this is a cliche." There was a metallic tint in Janna's voice as the soundwaves echoed through the locker.

Jackie stepped towards the makeshift prison. She tried to eye her friend through the slits in the door. "Hey Jan, do you need some help with that?"

"No way. He made a mistake, I'm trapped in here with all his stuff." The skateboarder could hear rustling from inside of the container. Janna's threat was probably not empty and by the time Marco returned it would be a surprise if anything he held in his locker was intacted. Jackie wondered that if Janna destroyed his lunch that maybe she and her boyfriend could sneak of site for some lunch. Maybe the two could even share text books for the classes they had together.

Jackie wasn't going to take sides between her boyfriend and friend, but she was sure going to benefit from it.

* * *

She was joking when she thought this but after a few bells had rang and it was the afternoon, Thomas has received her wish. It was in the form of a locker wide open with Janna comfortably sitting in it. Her back against the back of the tin with her legs out in the hall, where they nearly tripped some unobservant students. In fact it did cause one particular cheerleader fall flat on her chin to the joy of the school's normally sadist janitorial staff.

Diaz when he saw the state of personal space had one question. It wasn't how she had broken out or even why she was still hanging around. Both of those were expected. What he questioned was "Where did the door go?"

Ordonia didn't just open the locker nor was it busted though. The door was completely removed from the hinges. It wasn't even off to the side. It was nowhere in sight.

Janna shrugged as if it wasn't her doing at all. It would look more convincing if she had muster of the will to look at least a bit worried at the disappearance or at least take her hand out of the paper bag on her lap.

She rummaged through the bag, allowing the paper to cringle. It wasn't a large bag but it took her awhile to find what she was looking for. It was like she was using the crackling as a sort of taunt. She eventually pulled out a sandwich, cut into two halves diagonally. She unwrapped it.

"Woah, what happened here?"

"I just have to get-" Marco paused. His eyes grew wide and his mouth gaped. His vision like a spotlight shined on his nemesis, "my lunch."

His hands swiped but met only with air. He swung for the sandwich in her hand but she was a step ahead and yanked it away from Marco. He had to attack again. This time he grabbed the rim of the gaping locker to stabilize him as he fought for what was rightfully his. Janna had to lift her thighs off the ground and plant her feet firmly in his stomach to keep the distance between herself and her assailant.

"Hey back off." Is what she said but considering her mouth was filled with mushed up peanut butter and jelly it sounded more like "kafka," or "pack up" or some other string of syllables that might vaguely rhyme.

He still understood her perfectly. "'Back off'? You back off. That's my sandwich."

That of course only caused Janna to eat faster. While before she was eating leisurely, after the reveal she wolfed the lunch down. She didn't shallow between bites instead choosing to fit the entire mush in her cheeks like a pet hamster.

"Marco" Jackie pulled on his sleeve and than his shoulder, "It's all right. I was kind of expecting this to begin with.

"You were?" Marco relaxed for a moment giving his rival the necessary time to truly devour his lunch. She pulled out a juice box, also his, in order to help the nutrition slide down her throat.

Jackie nodded "Ya, figured that maybe the two of us could maybe go out for lunch. Have a little field trip."

Marco stood to face his girlfriend just in time for her to lean towards him, "Y'know just the two of us."

"Or-" There wasn't a gap between the two but Star still found a way to slip in. Her eyes met Jackie's despite the fact that she her words was obviously directed towards Marco, "I could always just cast something up. There's no reason to go through so much trouble."

Star held her hand straight up, pink sparks flickered emphasizing her point. A tiny amount of pink fog started to gather around the artifact like clouds would gather during a storm.

Jackie looked at the princess and she didn't frown, but she definitely didn't have a smile either. Star stared back and an sudden feeling of awkwardness began to grow between the two.

"Actually Star. If it's alright with you. I think I'll have lunch with Jackie." The bubble of anxiety was popped as Marco gasped his best friend's shoulder and gently guided her to his side.

"Ya, that's alright with me." Star laughed. She peered through one corner of her eyes before looking straight at Marco, "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Come on Marco." Jackie reached around the princess, who stared at Thomas's arm as if it was a threat like a snake or strange tentacle. Jackie gave her boyfriend's hoodie a tiny pinch which drew him towards her. He sidestepped around Star. Jackie did a little twirl, not too different than what you would see in the beginning of a ballroom waltz, to hook his arm around her shoulder.

* * *

The two walked away, step for step. Marco was too focus on his lunch date to turn back to his two friends, but Jackie did flutter her fingers back to signal goodbye. She gave one look back and while Janna seemed more concerned with emptying the juicebox than with their departure, she was almost sure she saw Star balling her fist.

"Wait. Jackie you've been in Echo Creek for how long?" Marco suddenly stopped on the sidewalk. He, for a moment had to check his hearing. His girlfriend didn't actually say what he thought she did, did she?

The blonde with blue stripe tilted her head to the side, "Marco we were in Pre K together."

"My mind is telling me that, but my heart can't handle the fact that you could live here for so long and never been to Emilio's." Marco pointed at his scalp before dragging it over his left breast. He suddenly straightened his back. He had made a resolution. "We're going now."

"Can't wait for 'the experience" She rolled her eyes but any effect that might've had was undercutted by a playful giggle.

Marco didn't let the joke slide. He played up narrowing his eyes, "Did I detect a bit of sass?"

"Sass? Moi?" She gasped, trying hard to to grin.

He tried his best to act like she had blasphemed, "I think I did. You're lucky you're cute."

"Cute huh? Just cute or...?" Jackie waggled her eyebrows.

"Well. I. Um." Marco quickly swallowed his words.

Jackie gave him a tap with her hip. It didn't move him, instead it was like her side melted into his. What did move him was when she giggled. It nearly caused him to trip on his own feet and he had to grabbed onto her to steady himself. He didn't know if she realized his intention but either way she made the most of it. He had grabbed her shoulder behind her back. She clasped his fingers and lifted them. At first he thought that maybe she wanted her personal space but than she guided his hand down, onto her hip. She didn't want distance between them.

He squeezed her towards him. It wasn't hard for him to realize that he didn't want there to be any space neither.

"Just between you and me. I'm not sure if I'm still allowed at Emilio's." Marco brought up.

"Why not? Did Star like demolished storefront or something?" Jackie said knowing that was well with in the field of possibility.

"No, there was this whole thing where I pointed out he only out down ninety-nine slices of pepperoni instead of one hundred and than some kid on a bike came right out of nowhere and made some weird speech about pizza that cause me and Pony to become friends and-" Marco paused, "-Actually that might've been a fever dream. That was a bit too weird even for me. Emilio!"

There was a bell when Marco shoved the door open. Marco shouted with a familiarity that she rarely if ever heard him speak with. He lifted his arms, always waving them in the air. What he got in with return was a rage filled shout. "Marco, how dare you."

"Emilio?" Marco eyes grew wide. His arms dropped a bit.

There was a tense moment. The boy stared at who Jackie assumed was Emilio. A heavy set man who's shirt didn't hide away his chest hair. The owner glared straight back at the teen. It was almost like the two was in the middle of a duel. Each waiting for the other to make the first move.

"How dare you." Emilio spoke, and Marco flinched. The chef smiled, "How dare you step into this store and not introduce me right away to your friend. Who are you my dear?"

Any awkwardness in the air disappeared. At least between Jackie and Emilio, Marco was still sweating a little bit, "Oh well. This is- She is my- I'm really happy she's here to meet you. She's."

"Jackie. Jackie Lynn Thomas and I'm the girlfriend of this master of the english language." She point her boyfriend in the side with her elbow.

"The famous?" Emilo mouth made a large O shape. "And since when has this been a thing?"

"There was a school dance a month back. It just sort of happened." Marco explained, scratching the back of his neck.

"Boy, it's like a slap in the face. After all this time and now you decide to show up? Why I have half the mind to knock you from corner to corner of this shop." The large men gave the air a few whacks with both the front and back of his right hand.

"Now that's scary. Every minute you're not behind that counter is a minute you're not making pizza." Marco laughed.

Emilio relaxed, "Speaking of which. It's a pretty slow day and it's just so happens I got a fresh pie right in the oven. Don't want nothing to go to waste, you and the misses here might as well have it, on the house."

"Misses, well we're not. I mean we're together but that seems a little bit too quick-" They were together, ya, but 'misses', that that was way in the future if at all.

Thomas pulled on his arm, "Come on Marco. Thanks Emilio. I can already smell it. Perfection." She led him to a table, hoping to get him seated before he got too embarrassed.

Emilio laughed. His gaze followed the couple to their seat. "We have a flatterer over here. You better watch out Marco. She keeps that attitude and I might try to introduce her to some of my nephews and nieces who just so happen to be single."

"I will fight." Diaz gave the pizza chef a warning before taking his seat.

Emilio surrendered with his arms before turning around and taking a peek into his oven, "Just keep the karate hands away. I have an unspoken rule against lethal weapons in the pizzeria."

"Well he definitely doesn't seem mad." Jackie smiled. She couldn't imagine a man more jolly.

"Ya what a relief. I'm not sure I could stand normal pizza. I've been spoiled."

"Your folks must've taken you here all the time."

Marco laughed, "For good reason."

"You and the owner seem pretty close."

"Ya, I don't know. I think I might've just gotten along more with adults than people my own age." He thought about it for a moment but just shrugged.

"You were always the guy to go to if you needed to convince a teacher something. Janna never gave me truer advice." She seemed to remember a few moments from long ago. Maybe of one if the few opportunities she had to interact with him throughout the years. "But that wasn't always true. I mean you had your annual exchange student. You always had someone to hang with."

"Ya. Well." He looked down at his lap.

Jackie frowned, "Marco? Are you okay?"

"Sometimes I wonder how they're doing." Marco eyes went idle, taking peeks across the pizzeria. "Like Gustav, you remember Gustav, he came down to visit near the beginning of the year and that made me wonder. I haven't heard from anyone else in a long time."

Jackie started to understand, "Oh Marco. You missed them, don't you?"

That sounded correct to him. He nodded. "Ya a bit. It's always fun to hear about new and exciting places, but sometimes it nice to take a second to think about the old stuff and sometimes I wonder that maybe they've forgotten me."

"Marco. I can't see anyone forgetting you." Jackie brushed her thumb against his bangs, gently caressing his forehead. "Remember back in fifth grade when Ron moved away?"

That was a name Marco hadn't heard since the sixth grade. "Hope's Ron?"

Briefly there was a image flash of a quiet brown hair girl that Jackie was friends with. She had, for a lack of better words dated a boy around their age couple years back. Ron, was nice if generic. Hope had liked him though. Marco wasn't close to her as Jackie was nor did he pay attention to gossip but even he knew that she was devastated when he suddenly moved away one year. Jackie explained, "There was all that crying and hugging when we learned he was skipping to the other side of the country. We all have good memories and I still consider him a friend but the moment he was gone the gang had to move on. Hope on the other hand was numb for like the rest of the year, but eventually even she got over it."

"Just happens huh?" Marco guessed at his girlfriend's point.

Jackie nodded. She flashed him a tiny smile. "If you want, afterschool we could look them up. Or get ol'Starfan to stalk them online. That girl is scary good at finding people." Jackie grin grew. Her eyes sparkled, "Just don't get too friendly. I might get a bit jealous, some of those girls had major crushes on you."

"Stop." Marco laughed it off. He swayed his hand in the air as if be was physically dismissing the notion.

Jackie lips parted. Marco looked so innocent as if he couldn't see the truth in her joke. "Oh god, don't tell me you didn't know."

"Jackie, I think I would know if someone had a crush on me." He rolled his eyes, but there wasn't a hint of irritation on his face. If anything he saw it as Jackie trying to make him feel confident.

"Are you for real? You didn't realize any of them had crushes on you? Lacy, Aika, Lotte? I didn't have anything to do with this but I feel so bad for them."

"They didn't give me any crush vibes." Marco looked at the corner of his eyes. He went through a mental checklist. "It's not like they held my hand, left me love letters, kissed me on the cheek or-" he swallowed despite the fact that his mouth was dry "-blatantly flirted with me."

"We're on the same page now?" Jackie cringed. It was almost as if she could feel the boy's pain.

"Ya we are. Oh man I'm dense." His elbows perched onto the tabletop. His head dropped to his palms.

Jackie felt a tiny bit bad laughing, "Ya, but you're cute so I'm letting it pass."

"Only cute?" Marco lifted his head and smiled flirtatiousally.

His girlfriend scratched her chin. She feigned being in deep thought. She peeked at an invisible object through the corner of her eyes. "I have a few words I'm saving for when we're alone."

"Well Jackie, I don't want to shift blame but it might have everything to so with you." Marco dragged out his words. "You have any idea how long I was crushing on you?"

"Well" Jackie pointed at her neck.

Marco hissed. That was a memory he rather not have brought up. "Ya, of course you do. Thing is, half the time I was hanging with any of them, I was talking about you."

The blonde blinked, "Oh crud"

Thomas stared at her boyfriend who could only look back at first. Eventually a minute had passed and her eyes hadn't moved away from him. The gaze started to become hot, like the sun and like the sun, he found that he couldn't look at it for long. He began to sweat when suddenly, much to his relief, the skateboarder moved. It wasn't much just a tiny nod. Well it wasn't much of a nod, more like a bobbying of the head that so happened to have been vertical. Marco could finally relax and let out a deep breath. That is until his girlfriend reached over the table and whipped her palm against his arm.

"Ow, Jackie. I'm pretty sure beating me up is Janna's job." It hadn't actually hurt, but it definitely wasn't something he had been expecting.

Jackie dropped back into her behind. She massage her forehead with both hands, unintentionally mimicking an old timey psychic "Sorry, but you deserve it this one time. Now I feel worst, dude. Like we definitely gonna find those girls online now just so I can apologize." A tray slid in front of her. A golden crust caught her eye alone with platinum cheese. "Right after pizza."

She gave the owner a smile and he shot one right back at her, before he scrolled behind his counter to attend to the phone that just began to ring. Jackie torn a slice onto a left behind paper plate.

"So how often do you talk about me with Emilio?" She started dumping oregano onto the pizza.

"What? I don't talk about- I mean I think I mentioned you once or twice, why do you think?" Someone had to think out their sentences before they started them.

"'The famous.'" Any argument he could've made died.

"I didn't just talk about my crush with my friends. It was probably the worst kept secret in all of Echo Creek." Marco rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's alright. Though still don't know what I did that made me like you so much."

"I don't really know."

"Ow." Jackie paused, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't mean it like that." Marco sputtered.

Her face broke into a soft grin. "Kidding."

"Honestly, looking back it was probably pretty shallow. You were pretty and I just sort of ran with that. Ended up obsessing over you instead of pulling your hair and getting smacked for it, like a normal kid would." Marco cracked a joke.

"We could've been making friendships bracelets in kindergarten and telling everyone we were girlfriend and boyfriend. We would've been so happy until we got into a fight cause we both wanted to draw with the last purple crayon. It's those tough situations which would've driven us apart." Jackie tried to say that wistfully, but she looked too amused at the idea for Marco to believe she was truely melancholic about the missed opportunity.

"I would like to believe that Tiny Marco would've let you use the purple." Marco defended his younger self. He couldn't keep his face straight and instead shared a laugh with his girlfriend. He let out a puff of air to calm himself. "I think maybe I thought you were cool or brave. Vague traits that didn't really mean anything. Like I knew you hung around with practically everyone and you seem to just do whatever whenever you wanted."

"Easy to do when you have Janna fueling your most destructive impulses." Jackie said, letting garlic powder rush onto her slice.

"But that's not it. I mean, you are cool, but that's not why I like you." It would be a bit too easy to name a bunch of traits and it just wouldn't fit the moment. "Honestly the exact reason is hard to put to words, but I don't think I like you because of the reasons I thought I would, if any of that makes sense. It just fits."

"No I think that makes perfect sense." Jackie put down the condiments.

"If I really had to say anything..." Marco shook his head.

Thoma's ears perked. "What?"

"I feel really sappy thinking about it."

"Hey, the whole point in dating is to be really sappy. Come on, you can tell me." Jackie took a bite.

"When I try to imagine what I would've done, if you never asked me out, if I never had a little man thing grow on my neck, if we never got trapped in a giant torture box; just a hypothetical Marco never getting to know you. I just get all ack inside." He bit his lip. Marco wonder if maybe he could've dug deeper for a better word, but couldn't really think of any that better fit. "Just ack. I like where we are. The thought that I could've just went along, never confessing everything, never getting the chance to be with you here. That's scary."

"Marco." It came out a bit mumbled. At least part of that was because she was mid bite when he finished his sentence, but there was more to it then that. Jackie shifted in her seat like she wanted to stand but she only made it a couple inches before she decide against it. Her butt plumped against the flat surface of her chair. She covered her mouth. "I want to kiss you right now, but I just bit into a spoonful of garlic."

Jackie gestured with her slice. It was obvious that she had abused the garlic powder.

"I think I might have a work around." The boy's eyes sparkled for a second, "Read my thoughts."

"Oh that's my thing." Jackie gasped. She wanted to fake being offended at the copyright, but was far too excited. She held the edge of the table as she leaned forward, as if distance was the a deciding factor in telepathy. "Wait, let me try."

"Concentrate. Close your eyes."

"Alright." She wasn't sure if it would help, but she'd take any suggestion at that point. Suddenly she heard a slight scratching as a chair slid against the floor before feeling lips on her forehead. She giggled and opened her eyes. Marco stood next to her, slightly hunched over. "That's okay? Not too cliche, right?"

Jackie shook her head, "No, I liked it."

"Good, cause I kind of what to do it more." He blushed.

"After I fill my stomach." Jackie smiled, before bringing her hand up to check her breath. "And maybe we can grab a couple of mints on the way back."

* * *

Marco coughed. The fact that he made a conscious effort to turn ninety degrees to his right nearly cause him to choke, "I think I have your mint."

She had only just toss the tiny candy onto her tongue. The minute they walked out the convenience store, Marco had pulled her to the side of the store. After about what must've been fifthteen minutes, they were still there. The boy let his tongue hang slightly. The mint stuck to the center of it. He reached to grab it. His hand was stopped as Jackie grasped his wrist. "I'll be getting it back soon enough."

She pulled him back to her. The first kiss was right on her lips, the second was on the corner, than they got progressively further. She unintentionally pressed against him when she felt a sensation on her neck.

"That trickles." She chuckled. "What is with you today?"

Marco stopped. He had a look on his face like he only was just coming into realization about what he was doing, "Sorry I just-"

"Hold on. I wasn't saying it was a bad thing." Jackie said before backtracking a bit. "Though I gotta admit I probably would've hated it if you were all touchy feely when we started dating. Now I'm really into it. I'm just surprise. Sometimes it feels like you're almost afraid of touching me."

"Ya, I kind of was. Actually I think I was afraid of dating you." The kid let out a imitation of a laugh. He looked away. "I'm just kind of amazed that I haven't screwed this up yet."

Jackie reached over and cupped his cheek. She gently turned his glance back to her. "Oh stop it Marco. You kind of made a big deal about getting to know me. I'm not letting you off the hook easily."

"That sounds great." Marco swelled his cheeks, fighting to replace the small frown he did have with a equally tiny smile.

"So tell me, where's the bold moves coming from?"

Marco looked down before he swallowed his anxiety and looked his girlfriend in the eye. "This was just something I wanted to do for the longest. Thinking about it. Maybe, hypothetically, there's a Marco out there who did pull your hair in pre k, who wasn't afraid of talking to you." He was tempted to avert his eyes but steeled himself. "I want to be that Marco. I think that's the best version of me. A Marco Diaz who isn't afraid to show you how much he cares about you."

"I always thought you were." Jackie smiled. "The best."

"Sorry, just if you tell anyone I said that, just make sure it's not Janna." He suddenly felt heat in his cheeks. He rubbed his palm into face like that would make the blushing disappear. "Too embarrassing."

Jackie immediately understood, "It looks like she's helping you out. At least sorting some stuff out, noggin wise."

"Ya, though. Guess she's good for some things." Marco looked like he had difficulties saying that. "I think admitting that left a bad taste in mouth."

"You're a pretty good influence on her too, trust me." Jackie softened his words. She was clearly imagining something that eluded Marco.

"Hey Jackie, are you really okay with what's going on between Janna and me?" Marco wondered.

Jackie laughed off any worries that he could've been having. "I particularly led the conspiracy that led you two into hooking up."

"You did?" He had imagined that the plot was more the doing of Janna mostly.

"Ya Marco, who did you think plan everything, Star?" Jackie obviously found the idea laughable.

"Why?"

"Because you're good for eachother, like how we're good for eachother." She thought that over again, "Well it's not good in the same exact way, but still it's good."

"I know, but this isn't exactly normal."

"Normal? Marco, for better or worse things haven't been normal around here since Star showed up. I've gotten used to it." Jackie stated, but eventually relented. "But you're right there are things that I still need to talk out."

"Oh." Marco prepared himself mentally. M

"Not between you and me. Between me and Janna." She elaborated.

The guy tilted his head. "About what?"

"This and that?" Jackie said as if even she wasn't one hundred percent sure what the conversation would entail.

"Private?" Marco filled in the implication.

"For now." A finger tapped the boy's nose. "Just know that this isn't just for you. It's for Jan too."

"Ya. I got to do my part in making Janna slightly less awful." He said as if it was a great burden, but he still looked excited. Marco stepped back from Jackie.

"Plus I still think it's hilarious." Jackie snickered, "Hate snog, hate snog, hate snog."

Marco groaned, "Why is everyone around me so chaotic?"

"Don't act like an innocent bystander. You knew what you were getting into." She pulled on his sleeve. "Hey Marco, read my mind."

"Okay, I guess I deserve payback for earlier." He rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Think, think, think." Jackie urged him.

"You-" He hesitated, "Want your mint back?"

"Close enough" She smirked, but looked away from him.

He notice that was not a confirmation. "What is it then?"

I love you.

"I'll tell you eventually or maybe you'll actually read my mind." It wouldn't matter. He'd get the message either way. Jackie pulled on his arm, leading him away from the store. "Come on, we gave Janna and Star plenty of time by themselves."

"I hope Stars not too mad that I left her alone with Janna." Marco idly pondered as they started the stroll back to class.

"Relax. I'm sure they forgot we were even gone."

"I'm getting back at Janna for dissembling my locker by the way." Marco stated casually.

Jackie inquired, "Really, how?"

"Like she's the only one who can crack a lock."

* * *

A mist of paint blew against a thin sheet of metal. It moved in a spiral motion from one end and cut off just as it reach the other. The spray can was shakened and this was repeated several times, different colors, different motions until there was a roughly painted out name, "Janna."

The holder of the name rubbed the back of her sleeve against her forehead. There was a drip of sweat that she hadn't even noticed until that moment, "Done."

She looked down at the locker door repurposed and decorated by an assortment of stars and stripes of all colors.

She smiled at her companion who smiled for a different reason. Star, sitting on her knees on the other side of the locker door reached both of her hands across. Her palms cupped both sides of Janna's head on her temples.

Ordonia stiffened at first but relaxed, allowing her forehead to melt into the other girl's hold. There was a laugh.

"You got paint all over yourself." Star gently parted Janna's bangs to get a better look at the green smear that she had accidently spread on her.

"What you gonna do about it?" Janna looked away, her cheeks red from all the hard work painting, "You're the one who wanted to pretty up this thing."

"I didn't say I didn't like it. Looks like war paint." Star pulled out another can from a bag Janna had laying about. Giving it a shake, she allowed a big cloud of black paint to land on her hand. Closing her eyes, she wiped a mark onto her face.

Star grinned, "Like it?"

"Ya" Janna smirked back, "Wicked."

"Come on, come on. Let's give this thing a try." Star bounced on her knees. Her smile shined through the black mark.

"Alright alright" Janna smiled. She turned to her side to admire the view from the top of a large hill. She motioned to the locker door, "Give this thing a dry."

Star nodded. Pulling out her wand she allowed a warm aura to bath the door. It glowed and light orange which slowly faded and dispersed. "And done."

Janna slide her palm across, checking for any smudge. There was none, "Nice."

She mounted the door, butt flat with her knees close to her chest.  
She almost descended prematurely. Janna had to slam her hands down on both sides of the door to keep steady as a sudden weight appeared on her back. Arms wrapped around her stomach and a pair of legs laid next to her own.

"Come on, come on." Star cheered softly into Janna's ear. Her head rested on Janna's shoulder. Her chin seemed to kiss the other girl's neck.

"Got it." Janna smiled. She had to fight her instrict to dive right away. She instead slowly tested the weight to make sure the two of them didn't fly off. "Hold on."

Star's hold became tighter but in no way uncomfortable.

They dove. It was a great straight shot down and it was boring.

At least Janna believed that she thought it was boring. She didn't even notice the ride. All she felt was Star deepening her hold and her giving a long drawn out cheer that must've been magic cause it made Janna warm. Then suddenly the ride had been over with Janna having no memory of it.

She wouldn't have even known that they were on the bottom if Star hadn't exclaimed, "Let's go again," while lightly shaking her.

"Um" Janna said. She unconsciously reached up, allowing the tip of her fingers to meet the one of her shoulder, "Sure, definitely."

Marco opened his mouth. He was surprised to see them so far off school grounds especially since the lunch break was soon to be over. He had to scold them. A light blow to his side stopped him.

Jackie reeled back her elbow and seeing that she got his attention she brought a single finger to her lips, shushing him.

"Come on" She hugged his arm, "We need to get to class."

"But Janna and-"

"I think they be happier getting detention then they would be getting to class on time." Jackie smiled, "Let's not spook them, they don't realized we're here."

Marco gave the two girls one last look before shoulder and accompany his girlfriend back to class.

"I told you they forgot about us."


	4. Planning is No One's Strong Suit

**A/N: Starting with this chapter onward I'm going to put notes above and below my chapters. I know that this is common practice but it's new to me. I didn't do so before because my AO3 account was basically my main account while my account was more to back up in case Ao3 ever exploded or something of that nature. Though I realized that most people who read here don't also read on Ao3 and while I can PM folks who review my fics, this doesn't work for those who review anonymously.**

 **So here we go.**

 **Kiden: I always saw a stable auspistice as kind of a ego-id-superego deal if you're familiar with the trope, where the id and ego have opposing tactics and the superego generally has to council and choose who's ideas are the strongest at any given point. In the end the resulting teamwork benefits all parties involved. Also you could be right about where I'm going with the pairings, you'll have to read this chapter.**

 **not-a-cop: Just want to know since you're not a cop if you would like to buy a snes classic which fell off the back of a used truck, but in all seriousness. Ya I want all four of the quad to benefit from their relationship in some way. What good would the quadrant be if they didn't grow as a result?**

* * *

Jackie tapped a few keys on her phone. With a quick click the phone's screen was put to sleep before it was shoved into her bag. She stared in front of her at a plain white door.

"Jan. Hey Janna." There was the soft beating of her knuckles on the wood. After a second of no response Jackie resorted to tapping out a rhyme on the surface. She was eventually rewarded for her effort.

"What is it Thomas?" The door cracked open and there was a sharp metal sound that filled the air. The chain that kept Ordonia's door close snagged. Jackie could only see her friend's hair and the corner of her eye, glaring at her, "And who let you in?"

"Your mom did." Jackie shrugged. It was an obvious answer.

"Why does she do this to me." Janna grumbled, much to Jackie's amusement. She shifted and Jackie hear a pound on the other side of the door. Janna sighed, "Can't hang out today. I'm not feeling good. Coming down with something"

"Janna. It's not nice to keep your friend waiting my dear." A voice cried out from down the hall. It didn't really sound angry, just scolding.

For a moment Jackie didn't see or hear her friend, though she knew she was taking the time to roll her eyes. Eventually she heard a overly dramatic sign, "Fine."

The door snapped close and the rustling of chains filled the air as the security of the door was undone.

Jackie tapped her foot as she waited for entry. She adjusted her bag which she had hung over her shoulder. It was a bit heavy but she could manage. She wasn't prepared for when her arm was suddenly yanked. Janna was fast but this was a bit intense. She didn't even caught a glimpse before she was pulled into the room.

The poorly poorly lit room.

"Janna?" Jackie didn't know why she ask. Who else could it be, but the blinds were close and the lights off. If her friend was standing in front of her she couldn't tell. That is if she was even still facing the other person in the room. The sudden force left her just a little bit dizzy. "Why are the lights off."

"Oh, are they? Didn't notice." Only Janna could say an obvious lie with such a straight and even voice. Jackie could've almost believed her. It didn't help that she couldn't make out any visual cues in the dark.

Jackie jiggled her bag. There was the obvious shuffling of the contents within. "Well I was planning to show you some books and we don't exactly have night vision goggles handy so-" Jackie traced her fingers against the wall.

"Wait Thomas, no." Janna raised her voice ever so slightly, which meant minor annoyance coming from most people, but from Janna it meant that she was freaking out.

Jackie could almost smirk when she felt a finger poke a light switch. She heard a violent crash behind her, prompting her to quickly flick the lights on.

She turned around and saw Janna on her bed, wrestling with her covers. She absorbed into them until she was a big lump that covered everything but her face, specifically her eyes, nose and mouth.

Jackie tilted her head. She stared at the girl, "Jeez girl, what's going on?"

"I don't know what you mean." Janna said plainly. Though her poker face scattered as the blonde raised an eyebrow. "I'm not saying that I was trying to jump up so I could claw out the light bulb." She stared at the ceiling as if she was cursing the inanimate object that rested above them. Janna shifted and pulled the blanket inwards more. "Neither am I telling you that I ended up face planting on my bed and burrowed my way into my sheets."

"Janna." Jackie said, "Why?"

"Sleep naked." The answer came easy to the filipina, "Not like I was expecting you to visit today. You know we all have phones for a reason."

Jackie looked like she was about to comment on the hypocrisy of Janna of all people complaining of a sudden arrival but held off on it, "Janna, you don't sleep naked."

"Hey seriously. I'm actually nude under here." A foot shot out from underneath the clump of cloth. She wiggled her toes.

"I could step out for a moment." Jackie let her nag slip to the floor, "Just grab something. I have a whole day planned and you're not going to want to miss it, trust me."

Before Jackie could even turn around to leave the room, she was stopped by a long high pitched whine. Janna clenched her teeth, before finally saying, "Wait."

Jackie paused.

"There is actually another reason I'm streaking under here." Janna offered an explanation.

Jackie waved her hand in the air, signalling for her friend to continue. Ordonia swallowed a pint of saliva. She scrunched up her face before reaching up to her face. She pushed back the sheets that covered her hair, revealing a bright pink beanie.

Jackie blinked, "Um Janna, what is it? Is it underneath the hat?"

"It is the hat." Janna admitted.

"Is that it?" Jackie giggled, "Come on. It looks good and I thought that pink was your favorite color?"

"Yes it is. I just don't want it on me."

Jackie looked at the hat which was literally on top of her.

"Shut up. I feel naked without something covering my hair."

Jackie looked at the blanket.

"Ya. I know I'm in the buff under here. Just- you know what I mean."

The blonde looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. She still smiled anyway, "Janna, I don't think it's a big deal and you look fine to me, but if this is really freaking you out so much just switch back to your old hat."

Janna groaned.

"What?" Jackie questioned.

"Check my clothes"

Jackie looked confused, but still obeyed the request. Across from Janna's bed was a short purple cabinet with two round knobs and two drawers underneath it. Jackie grabbed the two knobs and pulled. Pink. There was pink as far as the eyes could see. Wait, that wasn't entirely true. There was two denim jackets hung up too, one blue, one white.

They weren't Janna's favorite color but Jackie didn't believe that fact would do much to please Janna considering that both were still far brighter than her usual wardrobe. They would go well with the pink shirts at least.

Jackie checked the drawer underneath and just saw like fifty different copies of the same white skirt. Janna didn't have to go bottomless, though without a top that would be a bit risque, probably more so than if she went out in her birthday suit.

"I'm going to kill Diaz."

"Wait, you think Marco did this?" Jackie turned back around to Janna trying her hardest to set her cabinet on fire using her thoughts alone.

"I know Marco did this."

"How?"

"You just know. Trust me."

"The sneak." Jackie thought that she probably shouldn't look so amused at her boyfriend's actions, but she just felt happy that he felt bold enough to do something so daring.

"Wait a minute. When he was swapping your clothes did he-?" Jackie mouth opened wide like she was about to gasp.

"Nah, those he didn't go through those. The coward." Janna cursed. "Thomas, could you go to the mall and buy me some clothes?"

"You know I normally would Janna, but I have plans for us today and I kind of needed us to get started like fifthteen minutes ago." Jackie grabbed a bundle of clothes, shirt, skirt jacket, the unmentionables and threw them at her friend who reluctantly dragged them under her cover.

"I don't think I'd be up for anything looking like this."

"Don't say 'anything'." Jackie tossed up her bag and what she pulled out did caught Janna's eye.

"No way."

* * *

"Even the boots are pink." Janna had to watch her step as she skipped through the portal. That was a mistake. Looking down reminded her of the monstrosity on her feet.

"Janna." Jackie was ready to offer her friend a rare scolding. She stuffed Marco's scissors in her backpack and pulled out her cellphone, giving her messages a once over.

"Ya, I know. We're on a schedule. Least they're not fuzzy." Small miracles. Janna rotated her waist, allowing herself a greater degree of sight. "So this is Mewni. Looks like any old woods. Hey, is this the forest of certain death?"

Jackie tapped her cell against her palm, "Unfortunately no, but close. Marco sorta made me promise not to touch the place. This is near the outskirts of the forest on the opposite side of the capital." She gestured to a random direction. "We're far enough out that all the wildlife probably won't ambush us, but it's still not the best place to hang out for too long. Less Forest of Certain Death, and more Woods of Minor Annoyances." Jackie laughed at the small joke.

Janna didn't join her but could muster a bored expression.

Jackie frowned, dumping her phone before retrieving two books from her bag. The first tome seemed a little bit chewed up, like it been through it's share of things. "That what the locals call it, according to the guide."

The second book she tossed Janna's way. The troublemaker's reflexes kicked in and she caught whatever was thrown at her. It was a pocket sized book, like one someone would used for notes. "What's this?"

"Check it out. Picked it up just for you." It wasn't an answer, but Jackie believed that Jan would figure it out quickly enough.

Janna's thumb felt the light thumping of paper as she cracked through the pages. She must've saw something familiar because eventually Thomas heard the cry of "woah" that she had been expecting. She smiled and stuck her face into her own book. "You might need that," She absent mindlessly moved forward, "This isn't dangerous by alien standards, but we're still two Earth girls. Good thing one of us is a expert on the paranormal."

"Uh huh." Janna flicked through the booklet.

* * *

There was the light crackling of grass underneath their shoes as they traveled quietly along the forest. Jackie had her nose in her tome with Janna not too far behind. Ordonia kept her hands in her pocket, trying to act nonchalant as she attempted to caught a peek over her friend's shoulder.

Thomas by accident or by design made it difficult for the pink clad girl to caught a even a written word. Janna didn't know how long her patience held out. Could've been a few minutes but to her it could've been a few hours, but she eventually spoke as casually as she could manage, "So what exactly are we looking for anyway?"

"Who even knows." Jackie joked and Janna could've believed her if she hadn't been laser focused on what probably was the map.

"You do."

"Just relax, we're get there soon enough." The blonde waved it off, "It'll be worth it, promise."

For a second Jackie stopped, tilted her face up away from the text and scanned the horizon. She must've found something cause when her nose went back down she made a forty five degree turn to the left. Janna didn't have much of a choice but to follow her.

Eventually when they got to a river, they followed it. It lead downwards along a series of bumpy hills. With no foundation the trees parted away from the stream, creating a scar above where the two could see the mewmen sky. It was a nice sight, but not particularly eventful.

Jackie broke the silence, "So Janna, you figuring out that spellbook?"

Janna thumb the outline of the book in her jacket pocket. "Um," She thought, "Ya."

"Good," Jackie nodded, "Good." The blonde bit her lip. "Hey Janna, have you thought?"

Thought of what? "Huh?"

The girl shook her head and if anything dug herself deeper into the journal, "Never mind. It can wait."

Janna groaned. She spun once, not missing a step even as she narrowly avoided shoving a foot into the river, "Come on Thomas, we've been walking forever. We have the time."

"You know Marco and Star?" Jackie considered her words and hearing no immediate spot continued, "You know how close they are."

Janna smirked, "Feeling jealous?"

"Yup. Filled to the brim with envy." Jackie rolled her eyes, "but seriously," She tried to continue but whatever she was going to segway to was overpowered by a deep hollowing sound which filled the forest so greatly that the trees are sway as one.

She fought the initial gut reaction to dash away into random direction of the woods and instead peeked over the covers to look ahead. There was nothing,

"What was that?" Janna exchange looks with her friends.

"I don't know." Trying to keep her movement as minimum as she possibly could, Jackie waved a hand at Janna low near her hip. "The book." She suggested, "Just in case."

The little black book slipped out of Janna's pocket. The pink girl pressed her thumb in, turning into a random page. Her gaze scrambled across the words and diagrams. Jackie held her own book with both arms, above her head ready to swing horizontally at whatever could jump out. The two girls rotated away from each other holding for their visions to cover a greater radius.

They held their positions, held their breaths and nothing happened.

Jackie relaxed and Janna slowly followed her lead. The blonde's shoulders slumped. She almost looked embarrassed at having been startled.

"So ya, anyway." She moved on from the interruption, "Star," and got back on subject. Jackie went on as if nothing happened. Slowly opening the book and curling it back up straight so she could read it. "What do you think about Star?"

Janna paused to give her guide a look that made it clear that she was questioning her friend's priorities but still answered the question with a casual "She's cool."

"Just cool?" Jackie nearly missed a step. "The two of you have been spending a lot of time together."

Janna countered, "So have you two."

"We hung out like once to get you and Marco together and it wasn't the best. She got a little passive-aggressive," Jackie paused "and aggressive-aggressive. Like she kept implying that I'm dumb, and I'm like that's basically a blind guy telling someone they have bad eyesight."

"Really?"

"Ya, but I don't really see it as at much of a lost, cause the more I learn about Star the more-" Jackie hesitated as she tried to put her thoughts in the gentlest of terms, "The more I think she's kind of a brat."

She failed.

"Like I thought I was being pretty cool with all this-" Jackie waved her fingers around as if demonstrating a physical object, "-whole alien romance thing, I mean you and Marco really needed some to get your feelings sorted out and this sounded like the golden path, but I was the one dating Marco to begin with. You would think she be happy I'm one hundred percent into this, but the minute I took charge she just started being really snappy."

Janna than said-

Oh wait never mind, Jackie apparently wasn't quite done yet, "I'm giving her exactly what she wants but to the princess it's not good enough. Sorry I'm not sitting back and letting you run wild like everybody at school or the billion of servants you probably have."

"Um Jackie?" Oh it was Janna's turn now.

"Wait," Jackie blinked. She brought a hand to her temple as if she had a migraine, "Sorry, I'm over here ranting and this is suppose to be about you. I know that you are Star are cool and you probably aren't all for me bad mouthing her."

"No. Like I think Star is cool, but I'm more surprise that you think that Star isn't cool." Janna explained. "I didn't think it was possible for you not to be chill with anyone."

Janna let sit in the air before her mind caught up to the full extent of the conversation, "Wait Jackie, this trip is about me?"

Jackie whined. She had to think of something to tell her friend. She didn't have the time to improv. The forest was once again filled with a deep roar that shockwaved through their veins from the legs up.

Instinctively Jackie grabbed onto her friend's sleeve. She turned to her, "Whatever that is, its probably miles away."

"I'm not sure about that." Janna tried to mutter but it came out as more of a yelp. Jackie followed where she was looking and saw bright yellow irises underneath the light shadow of the trees.

"That's not gonna move if we don't, right?" Jackie hoped and was once again proven wrong. The form of the beast was revealed as the light draped itself from the head back.

It was feline in appearance, but green and not covered in something that definitely wasn't fur. If anything it was moss, roots and vines. It's ears were flowers and paws, mushrooms, but it's claws and teeth were claws and teeth. It showed them and the difference in color from the rest of it's form made them more prominent. Jackie couldn't stop looking at them.

It growled. Jackie felt a soft touch on her hand. Janna shouted "Come on." Before she knew it they were halfway to the top of a tree.

Jackie thought that between the two of them that she was the athletic one but Janna beat her to the top, even giving her a hand on the last stretch. "Okay" Jackie place her bottom down on a branch, "I got my book. You got your's?"

What might have slowed her down was her conscious decision to hold onto the guide. She didn't know what information would be useful but it was better than nothing.

Janna blinked before patting her jacket, revealing that yes she still had the small book on her. They looked down at the creature below. It circling the roots of the tree, peering at them. It didn't so much walk like a normal large cat would, instead the vines that made it's flesh uncoiled and coiled for each step making the core of it's body look very hollow and allowing them to catch a hint of a wooden skeleton underneath.

"Now what are you." Jackie flip the cover open and allowed the pages to dance from one side to the next. She scanned one block of text before the next was half way to covering it. "Got it" Jackie pressed the page flat. She read it and for a moment she adopted an amused smile "It's called a Tiger Lily."

"Lame." Janna groaned and then immediately regretted it because someone found offense to that as evidenced by a sudden growling.

"Watch out." Jackie yanked her arm and the two ducked out of the tree as another tiger lily dove over their heads. The two hit the ground, rolled and continue running.

"Janna, any luck?" Jackie panicked.

It took a moment for the girl to realize exactly what her friend meant. She dug the book out and flickered through it. "Um, Thomas. I don't think I can do this."

They bobbed past the trees, any direction they had been following before lost in the chase. Another body. There were three of them. They couldn't make it out but they had to assume it was yet another large cat. Jackie shielded herself with the guide and pushed, redirecting the tiger away from them but losing the book in the process. Pages flew in all directions behind them like a cloud.

"You have to." Jackie shouted. There was no telling how close they were to safety or even if there was a safe zone among the forest.

"Janna, you're the mystic expert here." Jackie pleaded, "Janna, hurry."

They made a sharp turn. When a claw slash through the bark of a tree they maneuvered around, Janna could swear that she felt the air pressure from the tiger's swipe. "I'm going to be a bit honest with you. Star is the magical expert and while I love the stuff, I am not."

"I really think you got that backwards." Jackie swerved.

They eventually found the end of the stream. The abrupt end. A shallow pond that met a waterfall of sorts on the the other side. It was clear of trees, though there were a combination of roots and beautiful pink and yellow flowers that littered the clearing.

That wasn't important at that moment. What mattered was the three tigers on they're heels and the large rocks around the pond made for the perfect hiding place as they tried to conserve their stamina. They dove over one boulder. The predator just missing the sight as they stuck flat to one side of the rock. Jackie peered just enough to see the wild cats stalk the area, not getting close to where they were exactly but seemingly patient enough to continue looking until they did.

Jackie turned to Janna and whispered, "So what are we working with?"

"Nothing." Janna hissed. It was sharp and she even paused, worried of accidentally bringing attention to them. "Like I normally would be all over this, but let's be honest here. It's not gonna work."

Janna brought her knees close to herself. If they had to hide out for however long, might as well get comfortable. "I can read spell books and rituals for hours but they don't work. Not really. We should just ride this out, hide and hope we don't get our faces chewed off"

"Janna. It'll work" Jackie smiled, but her friend didn't find it reassuring. Putting the immediate danger into the back of her mind, the blonde inched towards the other girl. "Remember what I said about Marco and Star? Well maybe I am a little bit jealous."

Before Janna could even think about interrupting Jackie amended her thought, "Not in the way you think I would." She gave a deep breath, "I just like watching them and how they act the way they do around each other.

She looked in the distance and for a moment it seemed less like they were hiding for their lives and more like they were just relaxing peacefully among themselves. "Pushing each other, making each other better. It just makes me think, why can I have that?

"Then I think about it." Jackie rocked to the side enough that her shoulder hit Janna's. "Think really hard and the only person I could have something like that is you."

"Jackie, why?" Why her?

"Cause you're you, Janna." There was nothing else that needed to be said about that.

"This sounds like a love confession." Janna laughed, but it wasn't a out of control laugh, more of a stay in control laugh. She didn't know what to do.

"It is." Than Jackie realized how that sounded and her cheeks grew red, "Just weird alien romance. The diamond."

"Star's mom." Janna suggested.

"Ya, we're Star's mom." Jackie agreed, before shifting. She rubbed the back of her neck with a spare hand. "Actually that would be weird considering well you know."

Janna tilted her head. "Know what?"

Jackie rolled her eyes and scoffed. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No I don't know, that's why I asked." Janna shook her head. The apprentice mage started to lift herself off her tush. "Actually, you know what? I'm gonna kick a weed's ass and then we're gonna get back to this."

"Get them girl." There was no other words needed from the blonde.

Janna stood up on the rock and Jackie didn't see any point in staying hidden either. They didn't know if the tiger lilies could be surprise, but they they did look cautious at first. All eyes were on the girl with the small black book in her hand, held open by it's spine.

The cats bared their teeth, one even took a step forward.

Janna cleared her throat.

From her lips came rhymes.

As the cats grew impatience and started to unleash a low growl that seem to vibrate Jackie's inners, Janna's chants just kept on coming.

The creatures moved closer but forever reason. Jackie didn't know if it one of the tiger lilies moved too close to them or if it was random but there was smoke coming from within the vines that were it's muscles. Smoke that slowly grew thick until it became soft flames that demanded the cat's attention.

Any motion that might've originated in a need to pounce at the teen girl shifted into a panic roll as the beast tried to drown the flames in the shallow water. However the fire did not die. As one needle of heat was extinguish two more emerge where the water was not.

Even as the tiger thrashed and hissed the spell it was under proofed too strong until the most basic of instincts overwhelm, flight. Every vine loosened as it turned tail and ran. There was a trail of fire behind it which drew the attention of the other two cats who ran from the hexed animal, possibly thinking that the blaze might spread to them if they did not.

Even through the glow died down as the animals left the spellcaster's proximity they were proved and continued their return until the idea of them returning was impossible.

Janna's words began to die and a aura that Jackie hadn't even realize had been there had dissipated as her friend slide down off the rock. Janna's feet made small splashes in the water. "That was close."

"But you did it." Jackie's moments were restrained. If she had been honest she might've ran into a hug, but instead she settled for a wide grin.

"Ya I did." Whatever means of celebration that Janna was going to express ended with her nearly busting her face on the ground. She caught herself, pressing against the rock to just descended from and tried to play it off by casually leaning against it. "No big deal right."

"Now we can get to the hard part." Jackie moved.

Janna could only groan, "Thomas are you trying to kill me?" She usually enjoyed a bit of thrill but this was a little bit much.

Jackie moved swiftly her feet barely disturbing the water as she traveled to the edge of the pond, bent down a plucked a single yellow and purple flower. "What we came for."

She held the stem gently with one hand and with the other displayed it like a fine piece of jewelry. "I forgot what they're called, but to the mewman, it's a beautiful flower, representing love and respect. Like a rose, you're suppose to give it to someone you care deeply about."

She wiggled her eyebrows, immediately killing any mysticism that she had built up. Jackie slide across and passed it slowly to her best friend.

"Jackie, you really going all out." Janna didn't really know what to say. She just thought they were going to bum around for a couple hours. It was safe to assume she hadn't expected any of this. "Is this part of what diamonds do, give each other flowers?"

"No." Jackie mouth mimicked an O shape before she answered, "This isn't from me to you. It's from you to her." She clarified and before any questions about who 'she' was, the girl with green eyes slipped out her cellphone and leaned into it. "Hey Marco, we're ready."

The clearing was illuminated. Jackie used the dimensional scissors to cut a hole on the other side of herself. Janna didn't know who it was at first, but if she was being honest she didn't think it could be anyone but one particular person.

"Janna." Star smiled brightly. Janna would've given the blonde her own usual smirk, but her first reaction was to shove the flower behind her back. She took a step back, like was being corner all over again.

Star didn't even notice, she burst through the girl's personal bubble like a bullet. "I'm liking the new look." She said, her face about a centimeter away from Janna's.

"Right." Janna had almost forgot about her new look and having Star see her all bright and pink cause her cheeks to also glow bright and pink.

"So what are we doing?" Star tilted her head.

"I'm gonna be right back." Jackie excused herself, pointing to the still open gap in time and space.  
"I just got to talk with Marco for a little bit."

"Ya ya." Star muttered and swatted the air in Jackie's general direction like you would a fly, "Take your time."

Jackie rolled her eyes before she stepped through. She wasn't going to complain, the two needed their alone time.

* * *

This was a woosh over Jackie's body signalling the melting of space washing over her as she entered the Diaz living room. She stopped when her chest collided with something soft.

"Whoops." Marco stood a bit closer to the portal than she had anticipated. He held her sides, steadying her. "So," he drew her attention "Everything went exactly as planned?"

"Well, Janna's new wardrobe was a surprise." Jackie saw the smile on Marco's face. It was hard not to imitate it.

"Oh did she freak." He grew excited, "She freaked didn't she? Marco one."

"Janna one billion," Jackie finished for him, much to his sudden disappointment. He whined and tried to put on his most hurt expression. It wasn't very effective. She ended finding it more adorable than anything. "Don't worry," she cooed "You're catch up."

She went in for a kiss. Her lips were about a thin sheet of paper away when she got the feeling she had been forgetting something. She realized what it was, "Oh right, me and Janna got attacked by some tigers. Well magic tigers, anyway."

"What?" Marco eyes looked like they were gonna fly out of their sockets and bean Jackie right in the forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Ya, we're fine." Jackie nodded.

"Why didn't you warp back here with the scissors?"

"Okay, well here's the thing." Jackie rummaged for an explanation. Her face was not too different than one would make while pulling off a bandage. "I kind of forgot that I could do that."

"You forgot?" Marco repeated.

Jackie playfully pushed him. "It's fine. Janna took care of them. You better watch out she some real fire power now. Literal." She smiled at the tiny joke.

"You know when I got that book for you I wasn't planning on you having to used it." He had been reluctant to grab it, but he thought better safe than sorry. It wasn't often he went to Quest Buy anyway.

"Ya, sorry." She said, putting on a tiny pout to let her boyfriend know she was really apologetic. She was surprised when he responded with giggles. "What?"

"You forgot." Marco repeated between laughs. It started to sound hysterical. "Like I should be panicking right now about how dangerous that was but also-" He didn't have it in him to continue to link coherent sentences.

"Marco." Jackie gave him a look.

He decided that he had to wrap it up. Wiping an imaginary tear from his eye, he said "I'm sorry, just never knew you could be forgetful."

"Nah, it's fine" Jackie relaxed, "but could you do me a favor and maybe not mention this to Star?"

"Why Star?" An eyebrow was raised, "Not like she would judge you or anything. She's forgotten a few things on a couple of adventures."

"I bet she has." Jackie muttered a bit too loudly to hide what she was saying to Marco. "But still, not a word to the princess."

Marco paused. It was like his mind had just hiccuped, "Hey Jackie, is everything cool between you and Star?"

"Ya, it's just." Jackie started, but she ultimately decided against it, "Everything is cool."

Marco looked like he wanted to say something, but whatever it had been he put that to the side. Instead when a third person entered or rather reentered the room, he greeted them "Star, you're back."

"I'm gonna be upstairs." She had made an exact right angle. She raced away with only a quick, "In my room" as an afterthought.

Jackie and Marco exchanged works and the hoodie wearing kid announced what both of them were thinking. "That was weird."

Another body dipped through the portal.

"Janna?" Jackie asked.

"Hey." Janna said and Jackie had to give it to her. Only Janna could've said that with such a straight and even voice while also looking like she was on the edge of tears.

"So how did it go?" Jackie than immediately cursed under her breath cause all evidence pointed at the opposite of what she hoped.

"It-" Janna began, "We just talk a bit. Things happened. It's cool." She slumped. The girl laughed bitterly. She turned away from the two, hands in her pocket. She to repeat herself either to convince her friend or convince herself. "It's cool. I'm gonna go home, if that's okay with you. My stomach doesn't feel so good."

"Janna, you want a ride back to your place? We still have the scissors." Jackie asked but that just caused the girl to hurry her pace and soon she was out the door.

"Marco." Jackie frown. She turned her head robotically towards the boy.

Diaz blinked. "Ya?"

"What did the princess do?"

* * *

 **A/N: I just gonna copy-paste my chapter end note from AO3:**

 **So looking back might've bit myself in the butt. Originally I planned to writ a small scene in the end of the last chapter to foreshadow into this one where Jackie and Marco return to school and find Star and Janna, hanging out being cute.**

 **Than I got lazy and didn't. Seeing that the conflict of the next chapter relies on the ending of this chapter I might end up gliding into "tell instead of showing" territory, which is bad.**

 **Tried to balance it a little bit with Jackie's reaction at the end. Before I had her straight up pissed before dialing it back.**

 **Anyway next chapter is Jackie/Star.**


	5. Hate Snog

**Kiden: I responsed to you already on AO3, but I do want to thank you once again for your very indepth review. It's fun hearing someone thoughts on something you also like very much.**

 **Allusion-Conclusion: Ya I tried to have it as Star being slightly passive aggressive. This chapter was fun but really hard to write since Jackie and Star are two chapters who canonically get along fine. Plus Jackie never really got the development she deserved (though I heard she shows up in one of the season 4 episodes i've haven't seen yet.)**

 **Finally I added in an extra scene to end of chapter 3. i just wanted to help the flow of the story a bit.**

* * *

There was a knock on the door once more.

"Marco leave me alone." It took a couple tries for Star to even say that much. The first time she opened her lips Star had to hold down a scream that was building in her throat.

Whoever was on the other side of her bedroom door wasn't taking silence for an answer. There was another trio of evenly space taps on the wood.

The princess torn it open so quickly that there was an loud smash as the doorknob hit the wall. "Marco Diaz, I am not even in the mood."

Green eyes blinked. "Well, to be fair. I'm not Marco."

"What are you doing here?" It could've been an honest question, tainted by the apparent mood the alien was, but the tone was harsh all the same.

"Wow." Jackie said with a roll of her eyes before speaking slowly, "Nice to see you too Star."

"Shutting the door now." The mewman started to inch her bedroom shut only for the door to catch on a foot. Thomas started to push against her with little luck.

"Hey woah" She strained. "Before you shut me out just let me say one thing."

Jackie was nearly flung forward by her own momentum when Star stepped back. The skateboarder managed to balance herself. She had to take a moment to catch her breathe. Star looked none the worse for wear, physically at least.

"Stupid alien strength."

"That counts as one thing" Star muttered not so quietly to herself. The raising of a single eyebrow was definitely directed to her guest. "Right?"

"Don't try to be smart." Jackie scolded before making her own side comment, "You're really not that great at it."

"I don't have to take this." Star stepped forward, ready to move her fellow blonde out if necessary.

"Honestly you don't have to take anything since you're so spo-" Jackie began her counterpoint. She had to quickly bite her tongue. She stepped back from the approaching Star, to disengage. "Wait I'm not here to bite at you. I just want to figure out what's going on."

Star actually looked more upset by the reminder then she did by the exchange of barbs "I don't know." Her voice was shaky. "I was with Janna and she asked me out and I said no."

"I figured out that much."

"I'm real proud of you." Star spat back "Using your brain."

"Star, If you keep on implying I'm dumb I swear I'll-" Jackie had to start chewing on her knuckles. "-I mean. Star why did you say 'no'?"

The princess shut her eyes as she tensed up. She clenched her fist and unclenched them. She opened eyes as she said "I just didn't want to."

"You didn't want to?" Jackie repeated as if she had to try out the validity of the sentence for herself. "Bull."

"What do cows have to do with this?" Star scrunched up her face.

"Star don't try it." Jackie didn't bother explaining the expression. "You know what I'm talking about. You like Janna."

* * *

Marco had to looked ever so slightly downwards but he and Janna was face to face.

"I got the drop on you. That doesn't usually happen." Marco just let that statement sit in the air. When Jackie ran up, he ran out. The boy chased down the slowly retreating form of his rival into the streets. He grabbed her shoulder, spun her around and trapped her in his arms.

"Well there's a first time for everything Diaz." Janna looked surprised by it as well, but even after what felt like forever nothing happened. Marco made the gesture of chasing her, but he didn't actually know what to do now that he had her attention. It allowed her to push off him and step back. "Congrats, you can tell your kids about this day. It'll be a story past on for generations."

"You don't normally admit when I'm right neither." Marco just stood there. He didn't look bother by the shove. It was more like let her go because of apathy more than anything else.

"Is there a point to this?"

"Ya?" Marco guessed, "Though I don't think I'm doing the best job at showing there it."

"Save it." Janna stitched an invisible zipper in the air.

Marco lifted his arms as a sign of surrendered. "Hey, I just want-"

"'I just want to what', Diaz?" Janna stole the words right from under him. She repeated "'I just want to talk?' I got rejected. Straight out. Don't be dumb. There's nothing to talk about and I don't need a pity party."

She gave him one last glare to punctuate her words before turning on her heel. Marco only followed her movements with his eyes.

"Ya, you're right." The teen sighed. "That's not what you need right now."

Without a second thought he reached out and pulled.

* * *

Star let out a little laugh. The statement seemed obvious to her. "Of course. We're friends."

"No." Was shot out of Jackie's lips. It was so abrupt that she nearly forgot the rest of her sentence. "No. Now you're just being silly."

Star reasserted herself. "I'm always silly."

"No, I'm not going to allow you to back out and act like you don't know what's going on" Jackie pressed on. "Like you from another dimension. It's easy to chalk up everything you do as silly and weird cause things are just silly and weird in the silly and weird dimension."

"Going to repeat 'silly and weird' again?" Star joked, earning a quick glare from her quest.

"And you play that up if we're being honest. Why wouldn't you? People don't call you out if they think you don't know better." No one could call Jackie unobservant.

"You're making it sound like I'm sneaky or something."

"Ya, making it sound like it." Jackie muttered none too quietly. Jackie slapped her hands together, bringing them to her lips in a mock pray. She breathed deeply. "Star, all I'm trying to do is understand."

The girl with the teal stripe in her hair lowered her hands. "Everything you do makes sense. It's not always obvious how it makes sense, but from your standpoint, a mewni standpoint it does."

Jackie glanced at Star, making sure the girl was following her deviation thus far. If a nod of the head she continued, "Everyone else might fall for that 'manic pixie dream girl' sthick you got going on but I actually pay enough attention in social studies to speculate about other cultures. There's a reason to the apparent madness. Just tell me."

Star didn't say anything. The princess was just staring back at Jackie. That was fine. Jackie was content to stare right back, at least at first but then Star just began to laugh.

It wasn't a giggle. It was a deep series of hiccups that caused her to fold over. It was enough to make the skateboarder a little self conscious.

"Jackie, Jackie, Jackie." Star wiped away an imaginary tear. "Don't think your head is just jumping all over the place?"

Jackie opened her mouth for a moment, closed it and opened it once again. "I don't get it."

"There's nothing to get Jackie." The princess shook her head, "I just don't like Janna that way."

"Alright, so we're doing this the hard way." Jackie sighed.

"What are you doing?" Star asked as Jackie place her hands on her shoulders and not so gently guided the girl over to her coach on the far corner of the room.

"Sit." Jackie commended.

Star suddenly was very suspect of the furnishing that been in her room since it's conjuring. "No?"

A quick shove from Jackie said otherwise. Star utter a small, "ow" not because she was actually hurt but as an act of protest. An act that was calmly ignored as her guest dragged over a chair rather then sit next to her.

Jackie place the back of the chair facing Star and mounted it backwards so that she could rest her arms high on it. "We're going to talk."

"We were already doing that." Star said with a look that easily conveyed how she felt about Jackie's intelligent at that moment.

"No," Jackie rolled her eyes. "We were talking about you and Janna, but now we're just going to talk about you. Cause before I thought I had you figured out, Star."

The girl with teal eyes began to gesture with her wrist as began to ramble on, "Like, girl who does whatever it is she wants. I can jell with that. I don't appreciate being on the other end of an attitude," Jackie paused to give the other girl a sharp look, "but I can chill. Janna is my best friend after all, but you're not acting like that kind of girl. Not only are you not doing what you want, but you're actively hiding that you want to do it."

"What are you now Jackie Lynn Thomas PHD?"

"You have psychologist on Mewni?"

"No that's what Marco called himself." Star explained, "Then he put on some glasses even though he does need them and a sweater vest."

"That guy." It was almost too much.

"You okay?" Star watched as the other girl particularly folded herself into two.

"Just give me a second." Jackie's ribcage shook as she spoke. She couldn't. She just couldn't. Her boyfriend was adorable.

Jackie Lynn caught her bearings and sat back up. "Ya, ya we're doing that. If that makes this easier."

"Okay." Star wasn't sure if Jackie was qualified to be a 'Pretty Handsome Dude', but Star wasn't going to stop her attempt.

"Now tell me about your childhood." Jackie initiated.

"My childhood?" Star guess she was a pretty awesome kid. She didn't want to particularly talk about it with Jackie, but the sooner she spilled the sooner this huge waste of time would be over and done with.

* * *

There was a breeze. There shouldn't have been a breeze but there was. There was about a ten second gap between Janna feeling the wind in her hair to her her turning around to confirm her suspicions.

The snare on her mug served as a warning as she pushed on her toes and charged.

It wasn't fast enough. Marco spun out of her path with grace rarely seen outside of a fight.

"What's the matter?" He acted like he didn't know what she was doing, but the smile on his face gave him away.

"Give it."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Marco batted his eyes innocently despite stretching one arm high, opposite of where Janna stood.

Janna glared at the appendage.

"Oh the hat." Marco waved the article of clothing. "I thought you looked different."

"Give it" Janna repeated, "Or I'm going to make you give it."

"You and what army?" Marco asked just before he felt his leg nearly gave out underneath him.

He quickly realized that the pain was because Janna kicked him right in the shin. He stumbled but remained standing. Janna reached for the hat, lowered as he balanced himself, but Marco twisted his body.

The teen allowed his back to act as a barrier, pushed against Janna's gut as his farside arm kept the hat out of reached. "Honestly I'm kinda surprised. I didn't think you get so attached. Maybe I should buy you another one."

He stood back up and pushed against the girl's cheek as she threatened to knock him down while she leaned her weight down on him "It might look good next to like the fifty others I already put in your closet."

"I'm going to kill you Diaz." She clawed for the hat, it was a hopeless gesture but for every miss she was able to wipe her nails against Marco, clawing every inch of him.

"A for effort." The boy laugh. If he felt any pain, he perfectly hid it. Instead Marco lifted with his knees hoisting Janna up. With one swift moment he spun her around until he could lift her in a way someone would hold a sack of potatoes. "F for presentation."

Janna, knowing Marco couldn't see her face allowed herself to silently express her frustration, before anchoring her weight to her shoulders so she could slipped out of his grasp.

She rolled away so she wouldn't break her neck on the sidewalk. Marco turned to the girl, her goal still in his hands which he presented to the world.

"What you're going to do Ordonia? You've been messing with me for years but this is my domain. I am a master of combat." He raised both hands as if egging on an unseen audience.

Janna stood and glared. She bawled her hands into fist and reached into her jacket.

"Oh no. A book." Marco pulled all the sarcasm that he held un body. He even went as far as to go to his knees. "Don't give me a paper cut."

Janna just stared as the boy's plead was cut by an explosion of chuckles.

Janna started to whisper.

"Come on Janna." Marco rose back up. "You've been doing this occult thing since first grade. It used to spook me out, but I don't think that's gonna work any-"

He had a quarter of a second to drop down on his palms. Marco followed the sight of embers dissipating in the air as it flew pass where his head had been. "Jackie really wasn't kidding."

With that comment the girl, his nemesis, smiled and he knew that he had get better at dodging.

Marco rolled. Javelins of flames marked where he had been moments before.

He didn't seem to mind them. "Well, look like things are heating up."

"Really Diaz?" Janna cocked an eyebrow.

"What? It's funny." Marco crossed his arms. "And badass."

Janna casually juggled a fireball in one hand and remarked, "So not" before tossing the flare underhand.

Marco evaded both it and the one that came after, hopping toe to toe.

He couldn't play defensively. He had to unbalance Janna and keep her off balance. The young warrior charged forward.

He wasn't making himself a hard target. Janna knew she wouldn't hear the end of it if she couldn't nail a target heading straight for her. So she snapped a flame at him. Nothing too big, something that would singe his hoodie and make him think twice about carelessly approaching her.

That when he caught the damn thing.

There was no other term that either of the two could have described it has. Marco at a speed not before seen by the pink clad girl allowed his hands to spin around the projectile. He spun around misdirecting the flame to travel around him in a circle before clapping his hands together like one would crush a mosquito.

The two of them exchange a look and simultaneously wondered if their own eyes were bulging as much as the others were.

Marco separated his hand and watched as a little bit of smoke escaped.

"Did you see that? That-" He laughed, "That was awesome."

Janna just stood there, mouth agape.

"Come on" Diaz egged her on. "Admit it. That was cool."

"I-" Janna shook her head before she accidently paid her rival a compliment. "Car."

Marco tilted his head, prompting the girl to repeat herself once more. "Car."

The boy realized or rather remembered they were out on the streets. The two took a minute break to patiently allow the vehicle to pass.

* * *

Jackie tapped an imaginary pencil against her thigh as she listened to Star drone on about things she thought were important.

The skateboarder couldn't help but feel that magical girl skip a few details that Jackie thought would had actually been important. Her vagueness felt almost purposeful in cases where the current 'PHD' asked Star to elaborate, partly because of uninterest, partly because of pettiness.

"Wait, wait. Stump?" Jackie's words snapped down on Star's monologue.

"Ya, the Stump. The stump day stump." Star rolled her eyes.

Jackie tried to fight down a smile. It didn't work, but she at least didn't show any teeth, "Are you sure that your folks didn't just forget your birthday one day and used the stump as an excuse?"

"No," Star sat up quickly, "It's real."

"Easy I'm not trying uproot your version of Santa Claus," Jackie thought over the comparison "Or the Krampus. It's just you don't seem to really be the type to care about that stuff. Like I thought that would set the stump on fire if it looked at you funny."

"I wouldn't do that." Star gave a look as if Jackie had suddenly praised the darkest of forces. There was a sudden huff in her breathing. "I couldn't do that. The Stump is the stump."

"Are you having a panic attack?" Jackie cocked her brow.

Star brought up a finger and pointed it at the other girl. "I may be free spirited Jackie, but I know my limits."

"Ya. Um…" Jackie kissed her teeth, "I don't know if I would say that."

Star blinked and then it was her turn to utter, "I don't get it."

"It's just like: we've only been talking for like twenty minutes and you a free spirit?" Jackie with her fingers draw a line in the air underneath her chin, "Not so much. Like Star, the grandma room?"

"Every parent has that one room you have to be careful in." Star crossed her arms.

"Then there is the game of flags."

"It looked super fun as a kid and Marco got way into it.

"Then there is the whole mewnipendence thing."

"I know it's bad now."

"Star, it's clear you really love your home and culture. That's not wrong. It's not, but I wouldn't really call you a rebel for it." Jackie waited for a verbal response. Instead the other girl just seem to glare at her with a expression like she just bit into a lemon. "Okay, I'll stop. Not like it has anything to do with why you so reluctant to make kissy face with Jan."

Jackie joked, but then Star's face softened, considerable so.

"Or maybe it does. Butterfly what is it? Some rule stopping you from being with Janna?" Jackie hesitated before asking, "Is it because Janna is a girl?"

* * *

"Come on." Marco muttered under his breath as he stood next to Janna who attention was on her nails.

The driver of the car creep by. Rubbernecking as he pass the teens. She looked at Marco, Marco looked back. The windows were slowly rolled up.

"Finally." Marco uttered he caught the last glimpse of a tailpipe.

He didn't have time to rest as a fire was lit under him.

Literally.

He could feel the hole in the back of his pants as he rubbed his aching butt.

Janna gave a grin, not even bother trying to look innocent. "I think we had enough of a warm up Diaz."

"The puns don't sound good coming from you."

Janna pulled out her book once more. Flipping a page, she smiled. "Better to cool off."

As her lips moved, Marco could feel something in the air, a sudden chill. He didn't know what it meant, but he did know that he didn't want to be standing where he was. A quick dive to the side and he just missed being in the center of a Marco-shaped ice prison.

The thing was really fateful fo his shape.

Jumping back to his feet, the boy attacked again, this time delivering a low kick. Janna made a frost platform to scoot her feet out of the way just before Diaz could break down the construct.

On her back feet Ordonia summoned a thin ice barrier to make room between her and her opponent. He spun around it, but seeing it slow him down even a little she tried again.

This time, he just jumped and punched right through the thing.

The wall took the majority of the blow but there was enough of a force to knock the budding witch off her feet.

"Marco two." The boy smirked as he stood over her.

She glared back at him. Janna opened her lips, maybe to inquire about the line or to snark back, but saw his back was away from her.

"Mommy, those two people are fighting.'

There was a some suburban mom, probably part of the neighborhood. She was wrangling a boy who reached just above her knees. The kid despite fidgeting about had a steady finger pointed at the warring duo.

The boy didn't seem terrible frightened at the spectacle, just interested, maybe excited. The mother pulled on her son's arm anyway, urging him to move along. "That just the Diaz boy and his girlfriend, sweetie. Figured he'd snap and end up killing her one of these days."

"Wait hold on." Marco stepped away from Janna. His arms raised in surrender. He started to jam words, any words from his pie hole which could pesaude the lady that this wasn't a case of sudden homicide.

It was as she he started to play damage control for his reputation that Janna noticed. Her hat was just on the ground, almost forgotten by her and unprotected by Marco. As she plopped it on unharassed she realized some.

Marco was right about one thing. Combat was his forte. There wasn't a point in going toe to toe with him.

Not yet. Not when her current experience with magic was two different spells within like an hour.

Humiliation however, that was her playground.

Janna smiled, "Ya, kid. He's not doing anything I didn't deserve."

"Ya, that's right." Marco spare her one gaze before agreeing with the latching onto the sentiment quickly.

"He was just trying to punish me." Janna explained and while her tone went over went over the youngster's head, it hit both the mother and her rival directly. Neither one liked it, for different reasons. "He had to put his hands all over me. After all I've been naughty."

"I never." The mother with a sudden strength pulled her child to the other side of her and began to put some distance between herself and the 'punishment'.

"Wait, wait. It's not what she's making it sound like." Marco shouted after, though all that did was hasten the woman's pace.

"It's isn't? I think we both know just how much you love our last-" Janna searched for a word as she stood, "-confrontation."

"Janna" Marco gritted his teeth, realizing very quickly that this was Janna with her usually trickery.

"You even made me dress just the way you wanted. Very bold of you Diaz, stealing my clothes." Janna smirked, between sliding her hands on her hips. "Well not all my clothes."

"What are you doing?" Marco eyes grew wide.

"You missed something." Janna's hands trailed the hem of her skirt, separating until she was pinching two sides. She lifted it only by an inch.

"Wait, wait. I'm not ready for this. We're outside." Marco didn't stop at shutting his eyes, he forced his hands to cup his face, fighting the temptation.

This turned out to be a mistake. He realized this when he felt something jam into his gut.

Marco folded around Janna's fist, his breath taken away. The girl taking a moment cradled Marco's head onto her shoulder. "Diaz, you want to give me a makeover, go ahead, but it goes both ways."

Janna gripped tight, pulling Marco's hoodie roughly over his head "First thing first, that thing has got to go. Only an idiot wears a hoodie in 80 degree weather because of their body issues."

Marco stumbles as he followed the momentum of the cloth. He was able to stop himself, but he turned back around just in time to see Janna slip the hood on.

"I probably pull this off much better." The girl said.

Marco rushed, trying to retrieve back his hood back. He was able to grab on but the girl squirmed in his grasp.

"Heard guys love it when girls wear their overgrown clothes." Janna smiled as Marco squeezed her by the wrists. "What you say Diaz, does it make you want to go wild?"

Marco wrestled her arms just above her head. He glared at her, but couldn't enough help but notice that his deep frown wasn't too far away her smirk.

He really hated that he was in public at that moment, "I'm going to remember this later."

"Looking forward to it." Janna gave him a quick peck.

* * *

Star bit her lip. It was allowed to slowly escape from her teeth before she allowed a big gust of air to travel into her nostrils and out through her mouth. She looked away, "That's not entirely unrelated."

Jackie for a second felt a jolt of sympathetic pain. "I was afraid of that,"

"It's not a mewmi thing. We don't care about stuff like that. It's a queen thing." Star quickly amended, "Others can be with whoever they want but i am expected to be rule over Mewni with a king."

"Tough."

"Ya, so. I can't date Janna." Star confessed.

"Telling your folks only to be shut down." Jackie started to imagine the scenario, "Hearing about how-"

"I never told them." Star defended.

"Did they tell you that you had to get married when you finally became queen or-?" Jackie trailed off.

"They never actually said anything like that. I just kind of guess?"

"Seriously?" Jackie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Like I wasn't hoping for a screaming match, but I thought you would say something. Anything."

"It's not like I can just walk up to my mom and say anything I want."

"Star, what are you talking about?" Jackie raised her arms "We share a class, all you do is basically just blurt out whatever you want whenever you want."

"Well ya, that because I want to know something." Star muttered just a little bit embarrassed.

"Even when Miss Skullnick tells you to pipe it."

"Tutors do that all the time, but like why can't I say something?" Star waved it off, "What are they going to do?"

"Dude." Jackie whined, "Please don't tell me that you only do what you're supposed to when you're afraid you're get into trouble." Jackie was going to give the princess a chance to respond but decided otherwise. "Wait don't answer that. That's makes perfect sense. Like you're afraid of your folks shipping you off to some boarding school."

"Saint Os wasn't just some-" Star began.

"And the Stump is some paranormal superpower to you." Jackie continued, "It's not that you respecting your culture, it's that you're afraid of anyone with more power then you."

Star gave her a glare, "I don't think I like where this is going Thomas."

"Frankly Star, neither do I." They were in agreement, "Like I knew you were spoiled, you're a literally princess. I knew you could be manipulative, you steer everything you can until you're the center of attention. Seperate from all that I thought that maybe you had some backbone, but it seems like do everything because you think you can do everything you want, not because you want to do everything you want."

Jackie surprised herself by raising her voice. She paused and made a conscious effort to pull herself down back into talking normally. "Slamming a waricorn thought a locker is okay because it's not like the principal or anyone here can do anything about it, but what if I told your folks about the long list of property damage?"

She studied the other girl's face "Star, I haven't even moved and it looks like you want to start graveling."

Jackie swept a hand through her hair. It lingered like she wanted to pull it out. "Like I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out. 'I'm rich and powerful so I'll do what I want.'", she mocked, "It's like someone gave Brittany freaking Wong magic and let her loose. You know. I think it might actually be a good thing you said no to Janna." Janna gave an bitter chuckle. "I probably gonna have to send a week papping her, but it's probably not as long as it would be if you two hook up only to find out you two got nothing in common."

"What? We so have something in common." Star barked quickly, "We have a lot in common."

"Sorry Star, I'm talking about someone who actually takes risk. Janna doesn't care if she gets in trouble or not. She just rolls with it. She basically spends half her life in detention and she sits back and enjoys it." Jackie praised her friend, before addressing the girl before her, "Hey, maybe cut the aggro. You getting wired up for someone who absolutely won't date Janna. That what you said, right? That you can't date my moirail so you broke her heart."

"Your what?"

Jackie imagined a small ball in the air and immediate tried to crush it. "Star, you really didn't read the book." She took the silence as confirmation, "That's why I had to take over. We wouldn't have gotten anywhere otherwise."

Star tilted forward, "No one asked you to do that and no one asked you to come in here and start chewing me out. You're acting like I'm self centered, but you're just pushed yourself in here and now you're acting so so" Star struggled for the word, "so self righteous."

"I was trying to make this work." Jackie corrected, "You just went ahead and did whatever you wanted."

"Ya and I didn't hear you complaining before." Star countered.

"Because everyone would be happier that way."

"Why do you get to decide that?" Star shouted "Why do you get to choose what would make Janna happy, what would make Marco happy? What would've happened if a couple days ago instead of explaining the book I dunno-" Star thought of some weird, "made out with Marco or something?"

"Do you want to?" Jackie asked.

"No" Star roared, "and stop thinking about it before you end up doing something stupid like break up with him. That's not the right thing to do. Thats thats you quitting cause you think it makes you look better." Star cupped her hips before trying her hand in imitating Jackie, "Like 'I'm so mature because I'm putting myself before others' even though no one told you to."

"You're supposed to learn to mature."

"Do you think it'll make you some kind of a hero?" Star laughed, "Here lies Sir Jackie Lynn, died for our relationship woes. As if."

"Kettle, pot, you are black." Jackie switched between gesturing to herself and Star, "You're the one acting like your kingdom will be set on fire if you end up making out with a girl. Don't get me wrong, there will be fire, but that's probably because another one of your spells backfired again."

"Hey, unlike you I'm a expert in magic." Star jabbed her thumb into the middle of her own chest.

Jackie smacked her hands right together. She clapped in rhyme. "Our teacher" clap clap "Is still-" clap clap "an orc."

"Troll, and she's happier that way." Star tried.

"Oh okay" Jackie stood up. "I can hear it now. 'Star why did you set that urchin on fire?', 'Well dad, I was trying to conjure up a blanket, but whoops. At least he's not cold now.' Star, it isn't a secret your parents shipped you over to wreck this dimension instead of yours."

"That's it. Therapy over." Star stood.

The princess tried to walk away only to find the other blonde in her way. She tries to push.

"Woah, Star be careful. Can't get to close to me." Jackie feigned worry, "What if we make out, you'll be jailed and your whole entire kingdom might fall over night."

"Listen here." Star demanded as she grabbed Jackie's shoulders.

"Oh no, your placing your hands on me. The peasants will start rioting if this continues up." Jackie gasped sarcastically, "Don't make out with me Star. Don't make out with me."

* * *

Marco had to reluctant let his foe go. It was a ceasefire, not an end of the fight but a pause until it could be resume at a later time in a much more private setting.

Marco still had a little bit of a guard up afterwards in case of trickery.

"Hey Marco" Janna said as Marco just stared at her in the middle of the street, "Thank you."

"Janna I-" Marco bumbled but managed to get out.

"You tell anyone I said that and all your information will go on the internet." Janna blushed, "I can buy and sell you."

"Like to see how that works out for you." Marco smirked. He tapped a finger against his temple. "I have years of untapped fuel on you."

"Bring it." Janna said. She felt a vibration in her jacket. She pulled out her phone. "Hey hold on."

It was a text: "Okay Janna. You might want to get back to me asap. This is like one of those good news, bad news situations.

The one immediate after: "About Star."

"Like… just text back."

Jackie didn't wait.

"Okay so good news, Star wants to talk with you, maybe a date idk."

The last one had probably the longest gap of a few minutes.

"The bad news is all I had to do was make out with Star."

There was a small notification: Jackie is writing.

"Hate snog hate snog hate snog."

* * *

 **Okay next is Janna/Star.**


	6. The Date

**Gallifrey denizen: ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE. Not really though. This is a chapter I posted on AO3 a week ago. I was waiting til I pulled myself off my ass and updated some of my other stories (Red Bundle cough cough) before transferring it over in mass. Then I got the review and thought "I can just pop this over real quick"... Still working on that next chapter of Red Bundle for the folks wondering.**

 **dustrider: sweet**

* * *

For Earth's most organized boy, Marco Diaz sure knew have to make a mess. The floor was aligned with dresses, shoes and other articles that had originally belong in Star's dresser.

For each article the boy would lay his hands on, he would roar out a "no," before tossing it behind him. Occasionally he would tromp over to Star and hold up a piece in front of her before letting a frown split his face in two.

"Marco." Star uttered for what had felt like the twentieth time as the boy started on another pile. When a pair of pants nearly smacked her in the face she screamed "Marco."

The teen for a moment broke out of his trance and turned his torso to her, "You don't have anything to wear."

"I think I should be the judge of that."

Marco suddenly allowed the long gown he was holding to slide out of his hand and plop back into it's draw. He wandered over to Star, his hands hovering just around her head. "And your hair. It's not made up. I need to get a brush."

The teen started to gallivant around the room "100 strokes, 200. Where's the brush?"

"Alright" Star sighed and Marco soon found himself belly up with a significant weight on his chest.

A giant hand conjured up, pressing it's pointer down on the boy. Star walked around it and looked down, "Marco, relax. I think I'm suppose to be the nervous one here."

"But you're having dinner with Janna, like a date." Saying it out loud did nothing to calm him down. "This is your first date with Janna."

"First off, we don't know of there will be a second date." Star tried to appeal before her friend went off the deep end. "Janna is cute and awesome to hang out with but I never thought we end up like this."

"Why not?"

Marco's question was swiftly ignored. "Second, Janna and I hang out like all the time. It's not like I'm going to panic now. We're talk about curses, deface some property and steal stuff out of your room like we always do."

"I liked almost nothing in that last sentence." Marco said slowly with a long frown.

"So you can trust me Marco" Star said. "You're the only one freaking out about this."

* * *

Jackie held up three hangers, two in one hand and one in the other. A trio of brightly colored knee length dress.

"Janna do you like this-" she shifted one of the hangers to the other hand and presented the now lone garment. "-or maybe this?"

"Thomas" Janna didn't peer from her phone. She laid on her side, curled up as she flung her phone on the screen, "You've been switching between the same three dresses for the last 30 minutes."

"Ya, I should just pick one. This one-" Jackie separated one of the hangers from the others. She gave it a quick glance and frowned "-is definitely not it."

Janna gave a small tick with her tongue. "Man, I'm really glad Diaz only bought the three." Though that's probably only because he only bought enough to stick with the limited color palette of pink with some white and blue.

"Maybe we should stop by the mall. Just swing by real quick." Jackie sighed lowing the choices to her hip.

"Nah, already did the swinging. Nothing there I liked." Janna flipped to her other side. "Sides I spent all my cash on some other junk."

Jackie raised an eyebrow.

"I spent all of Marco's cash on some other stuff."

"I can loan you." Jackie offered, grabbing her bag. She didn't get a worded protest just a quick huff. "It's no big deal, we just have to hurry cause there's a bunch more we have to do. What's that?"

Jackie squinted at her partner. Janna had sat up and was still on her phone, but as Jackie moved she notice that the device seem to follow her where she went.

Jackie tested this theory by stepping to her left. The phone jerked with her.

"I just need documented evidence that Jackie Lynn Thomas is apparently capable of freaking out." Janna smirked, "Seriously I've never seen you outside of chill. You do remember that this is my date, right?"

"Sorry" Jackie pulled a hair back. "I just know that this is really important to you."

Janna stashes the phone away. "It's no big deal."

There was a pause. Jackie took a step forward and another until she was looking down at her sitting friend. "Janna, you don't have to pretend."

Janna looked her in the eye. There was for a second a sort of glare. Maybe it was a challenge or inspection of sorts but against the pure sincerity that Jackie shot off Janna could only surrender and sigh.

"You know you sound a bit like Diaz" Janna whined, remember her nemesis voicing how he felt about her conduct. "Ya, alright. Real, time to be real." It was a sentence that she felt strangely uncomfortable saying. "Okay, I guess like the thing is Star already said 'no' once. This is just us going through the motions so she can say 'no' again."

Jackie peered at the corner of her eye "Star was just being-" dumb "-difficult. You'll have a blast and she'll like you for who you are."

The blonde punctuated her thought with a smile.

There was a twitch of the lips like Janna was trying to mimic the expression. It didn't come close "I'm not sure." Janna scratched at her bicep. "Like a lot of things Diaz been telling me is true. I put on an act a lot and I don't know if I do it to bring down the system or if I'm not cool with myself." The girl sprawled out her arms like she was presenting something. "When I asked out Star, I thought 'oh man, this is me. This is who I am, out here for the world to see' and I got knocked down for it. It's just easier getting rejected if you pretend like you're not giving it your all. That's what I'm saying"

"Janna, maybe." The encouraging smile that the teal eyed girl once had faded. The crack in voice was it's death cry. "Maybe this was a mistake."

"Woah there Jackie." Janna mockingly brought up her hands, "Don't have to convince me so hard. Seriously, I thought you wanted me to go out."

"Yes. I did" Jackie voice was bit higher than usually was. "That's the thing. I wanted you to confess to Star. I thought the both of you would be just be together. I wanted to show you that we could work as diamonds, as moirails, but I messed up and you got hurt because of it."

"It's no big deal." Janna muttered, not looking her in the eye.

"No pretending." Jackie brought up a hand to maybe grab onto Janna's shoulder. It was yanked back halfway through and hung helplessly in the air. "I pushed you, because I thought I knew better then everyone else. I'm so stupid. I don't even know why I'm doing this. Am I even trying to make everyone happy or just trying to make myself look good?"

She dropped the dresses.

"Jackie."

Jackie swept her hands through her hair. "You never asked me for help with Star. How could I put you on the spot like that for what? My ego?"

"Jackie"

The blonde lightly clawed the side of her head. "That's not even touching the fact I ended up smacking lips with your crush. I'm such a-"

Janna stood and gripped the front of Jackie's shirt and for a moment the skateboarder was sure the girl was planning on throttling her. She felt like she would've deserved it. Instead Janna tugged quickly and let go, only to stretch out her arms wide to catch the girl as she tipped forward. Her arms wrapped around Jackie's shoulders.

Janna allowed one of her hands to rub the back of the blonde's neck guiding her so that their foreheads could touch. She had a clear view of the tears forming in the corner of teal eyes.

"Jackie stop it," She brought up a finger, "You're not like that. You're are the furthest thing from egotistical I have ever seen."

"But-"

"I'll be honest. I got burned and it stung, but I'd never call you selfish for it." Janna stared her best friend right in the eye "There are a lot of people who'll do something for their rep. A lot of pretenders, people who'll be smug and polite while looking down at you. You're not like that." She shook her head. "You stand by what you believe. You're the genuine article Jackie. You help when no one else has the balls and should you cut that out?"

Janna paused to think. She nodded. "A little, but only because you deserve to be selfish every once in awhile and you deserve to have someone you hate." Her smile was genuine and rare. "So Diamonds?"

"Janna." Jackie slide herself around her moirail. Her weight practically forcing the other girl to sit back down.

"Now, you know I'm not too touchy feely and I think I already gave enough physical affection for a lifetime." Janna gave her friend a couple paps on the back.

Jackie rolled her neck against Janna's. "Just a little be longer, I'm being selfish"

Janna rolled her eyes, but she didn't look too upset about it. "Seriously, we gotta pick out a dress."

Hearing the magic words Jackie shifted her weight until she was sitting beside her friend. With a quick reach the dresses were in her possession once more. She presented them.

Janna looked at the three brightly colored dresses and pulled one by it's hanger. "It has to be this one, doesn't it?"

"Your choice." Jackie smiled.

"No pretending."

* * *

Star sat on the couch in her room. She had a puffy pink dress with white frills on the skirt. There was a book on her lap. She flipped the pages slowly, her eyes on the last through words before her transition to the newer text could be completed.

"I found the brush." Marco stood in front of her. He got dressed too. He had his sweater vest and glasses with the fake lens. The brush was in his hand.

Star rolled her eyes "You know I could do it with magic."

"I know, just thought that-" It was obvious that he forgot. Just as he forgot that her clothes and makeup could easily have been done with magic. She allowed him to help anyway each time.

"Come on" Star slid off the sofa to sit on the ground. Marco sat down behind her and started to bunch up the strands.

"Is that the alien romance guide?" Marco absent minded brought up a topic, "Thought you read it already."

"Well ya" Star admitted. Marco either didn't have more to say or didn't have the chance to say it because the princess quickly added "-but I'm so bored. Can't wait till Janna gets here."

"Sure you're not nervous?"

"I told you: I'm fine. Now-" Star shush Marco slightly. She brought her knees up to angle the book up. "I need to concentrate."

Jackie soon wouldn't be able to act like such a know it all about the text. Even through the text was so long and boring that she had only skimmed it before, if a certain skateboarder was able to get through it all then Star could as well.

The two of them sat there for a while. Star didn't regret allowing Marco to pamper her. He was gentle enough with the brush and it made her relax as he melted the knots away.

Furthermore they felt closer. It was a small gesture but it was isolated between the two of them.

It felt-

Star leaned a but into the book and flipped back a few pages. Marco put down the brush and started to tie her hair together in a single braid.

It felt 'pale'. The term was pale.

"Star." There was an announcement from downstairs. "There's someone at the door for you."

"Thank's Mrs Diaz." Star shouted down and abandoned the book. She wanted to stand but her friend's hair work wasn't done. She settled with standing on her knees. "Done Marco?"

"Just about. Need to put this in here and perfect." Marco released her.

"Okay." Star gently swept the braid through her fingers before flicking it back.

Marco smiled. "Good luck."

"I got this." Star waved it off. She didn't spare a moment to double check herself. She was ready for this date. Star stopped as she reached the reached the steps, grabbing the rails to stop her movement.

"Janna Banana." She exclaimed with the biggest smile even before she saw said girl.

Instead what Star did see from the top of the stairs was a long simple pink dress. Sleeveless and attached to a beautiful stranger.

"Star" The stranger said.

Star blinked. Her smile gone. Her mouth just slightly open. She didn't know how this girl knew her name but she replied with a quick "Hi," in order not to be rude.

"Hi to you too" The stranger said and she smiled. It was a smile that made Star warm but it also gave her a sense of deja vu.

It was a nice smile full of confidence that reminded her of "Janna?"

It was just a wild guess on Star's part.

"Who else would it be?" 'Janna' smiled, if this who the stranger really was. It was a good question however. Who else would be standing there at the front door between Mrs Diaz and Jackie? It had to be Janna, but there was no heavy jacket, no boots and her hair was brushed. The fact that Star could even notice her hair at all was strange. It meant there was no hat.

"I forgot something" Star suddenly announced, pointing a thumb behind her. "I need to go get it."

She dashed back, through the halls and back to the sanctuary of her room.

Marco despite not actually needing them to see, readjusted his specs as he finger through the text. The 'alterians' guide on romance was an interesting read. It did go on some off topic tangents, but the boy expected that's why Jackie found the book so interest. These rants seem to gives hint to the broader culture that spark the quadratic system and any history buff like her would sucked in by it.

"Marco Marco Marco." He guessed that could all wait.

Marco pushed closed the tome and left it to his side. "Star what is it?"

He started to stand only for the process to be violently sped up as Star yonked him up by his sweater.

"Marco, I'm totally not ready for this."

* * *

Mrs Diaz looked up the stairs with a bemused smile.

"Hold on just a moment. She'll be right back." She said to Janna and then walked away towards the kitchen.

Janna frowned. Her gaze was at the empty step where Star had been for a moment. She only stop her stare when she felt a hand on her arm.

Jackie prodded Janna to turn slightly towards her. "You okay?"

The blonde was also dressed for the night, a sea green blouse and jeans. Not as fancy as Janna, but still different.

"Ya um." Janna caught only glance upstairs. She shook her head. "I don't know?"

It sounded like a question. Like she hadn't expected for the mewmen girl to just dash back like that or maybe she did. Whole thing was going south like she had predicted.

Jackie slid her hand between the girl's shoulder blades, rubbing up and down in an attempt to sooth her.

"You're going to knock her dead." The teal eyed girl gave one last pat.

Marco tilted his head back. Star had pulled him so close he couldn't get a good look at her."I thought you said you were fine."

"I know what I said." Star had been certain at the time that her words were the truth but something had definitely changed in the last minute. "But I lied I guess. She's just down there and she just looks so different and I wasn't ready for this Marco.

She released the boy and started to slide her hands along the pink dress picked out for her. "What am I wearing? A mirror, I need a mirror." She found one, on her wall as it always was. Star twisted left and right, checking not only her sides but glimpsing at her back. "Okay, okay. It looks pretty good I guess."

"You weren't looking when I was picking them out?"

Star ignored him, instead choosing to examine her toes. "My shoes are okay, but my make up-" She drew her face close to the mirror.

"That's the only thing I wasn't really sure about." Marco admitted, "Your cheek marks are cute but I wasn't sure how to highlight them exactly."

"You did a good job" She could a moment to reassure him with a smile. Just a moment as she went back to freaking out at her reflection, "but there's something missing. Somethings wrong. Maybe it's just me. I'm all wrong."

"Star, maybe you over thinking this and this is me saying that. Listen Star, you already know that Janna likes you. She told you herself."

"Ya, but that could've changed."

Marco could've told the girl to not worry. He could've also told her that's she looked fine, perfect even. He didn't have to voice any of this to realize it wasn't going to work.

"Hold on one second" Marco held up a finger before escaping from the room.

Star stood there alone, confused and momentarily worried that he wouldn't return.

There was a creek in the door. Between two hands was a bottle which Marco held like it was made of toilet paper.

"Tada." He lifted the bottle up. "Toilet water."

"Gross." Star didn't know how it would help but it got a chuckle out of her.

"No, it's um cologne." Marco explained, "It's what I wore when I took Jackie to the dance. I'm not sure how good it is, but Janna seemed to like it, in her own creepy way. I figured maybe you could try it."

Marco with both hands gifted her the bottle. The princess received it, mimicking his gentleness with the item.

Star smiled.

* * *

Jackie wiped the sweat off her brow. There was a pressure in her lungs that she didn't even realize was there. It died the moment she saw Star being guided downstairs by Marco.

The princess eyes switched between Janna and her own feet. It seemed like she was worried she would forget to walk and come crashing down. It was slow, but investing. Her pace was steady and eventually she was face to face with the girl of the evening.

"Hi" Star tried once again.

"Hi." Janna returned.

The two of them were lead to the kitchen where the back door was open, letting out the warm night's air.

It was dark out there at first, but a speck of fire emerge and two candles were lit. There was a small table with two chairs on opposite side. The whole thing was in the center of the backyard of the Diaz home, underneath the starry night sky.

Mrs Diaz blew out a match.

Marco grabbed something from the kitchen counter. "Thanks mom." He said as he and his mom passed one another.

The mother smiled and turned to Star and Janna. "You both look so gorgeous" she cooed. She had to cover the big grin with her hand. "Have fun you two," she said as she retreated back inside.

Star place one hand on the table and used it to help her sit. Janna did the exact same.

Marco stepped between them before ceremonially dropping two laminated sheets of paper between them. "Welcome to Diaz's, I am so happy to see the both of you today."

"Diaz, we see you everyday." Janna commented.

She was ignored as the 'waiter' pulled out a notepad. "I recommend the house special nachos as an appetizer for your date here." Marco said gesturing at Star with a pen, "and pile of dirt for you."

"The nachos sound great." Star interrupted the two before they could start trading barbs. Marco smiled, jolted down the order and scurried back inside.

"So" Star smiled weakly. "I heard the nachos are to die for."

"Ya." Janna laughed once before casting her eyes down to her lap.

Star took a tuft of hair and place it behind her hair. Janna smoothed out her dress. One of then opened their mouth, so did the other.

"Star I-"

"So Janna-"

Their jaws locked. Their eyes didn't meet. One would give glance then look away as the other tried to return the gaze. Then that person's eyes would retreat when the first's reconfirmed.

* * *

Jackie rummage through the fridge, removing the few ingredients she was sure the 'chef' would need. She closed it shut the moment she heard footsteps. A block of cheese was set onto the kitchen counter. "So how's it going?"

"Bad?" Marco thought once more, "Good? I don't know I was only out there for a second?"

"Maybe I should go out there." Jackie began to race to the door, but Marco didn't move out of her way.

"Not yet" Marco placed his hands on her shoulders. "I only just got their order. I can't harass the customer. It'll be unprofessional."

"Unprofessional?" Jackie repeated as if she hadn't heard him correctly. She snorted and bent over. The top of her head have his chest a little nudge. "Marco why are you so adorable?"

"Well um" Marco shrugged, "trade secret."

Jackie straightened back up. Using Marco to stabilize herself, she grabbed his side. She pinched his sweater. "This getup, This is the same sweater vest that Marco Diaz PHD wears?"

Marco looked down at himself. He didn't know how Jackie knew about that, nor was he intentionally trying to dress that way. "Maybe."

"Just wanted to check doctor." Jackie gave his chest a pat before moving off. She used the counter to put some distance between the two of them. "Come on, we have nachos to make."

* * *

The appetizer didn't take much. It wasn't too long before Jackie came out with two plates. "Ladies and princess." The 'waitress' gave Star a glare, "Who ordered the nachos and who ordered the nachos?"

Jackie snickered at her little joke. She place the batch down in front of each of the lovebirds.

Star went to pick a chip from the pile, but instead of leaving, Jackie reached out a hand and made a show of snatching a nacho from Star's plate.

"These are delicious by the way." She ignored Star's frown. Jackie took out a notepad, not too dissimilar to the one that that Marco previously was brandishing. "Now what would you two like for your main course?"

"I'll have-" Star began.

"And for you?" Jackie said looking at Janna, forcing whatever it was that Star was going to order to remain unspoken.

"I didn't really get the chance to look." Janna slide the 'menu' from underneath the plate and gave it a once over.

"Alright. I'll just give you a little bit more time." Jackie clapped her hands. There was a sort of showmanship in her stance. "Remember my name is Jackie Lynn Thomas. Remember it cause there will be a survey at the end of the evening about how I'm doing."

"You suck." Star quipped.

"At the end of the evening" Jackie smiled politely as she turned away.

She saw Marco's clenching the door immediately. As she moved closer he stuck his head out like a gopher. "How is it going?" he mouthed.

Jackie gave him a look and mouthed back something along the lines of "I don't know."

Janna rubbed her thumb against her fingers. Carefully she moved her hand and took a single chip with just a bit of cheese. Drawing her arm back she tilted her head back and gently placed the nacho down onto her tongue. She closed her mouth.

Star laughed.

It was sudden and immediately drew Janna's attention.

Star covered her mouth. The princess wanted to apologize, wanted Janna to forget the sudden outburst, but when she opened her mouth she just laughed once more.

"I'm sorry," Star giggled, "It just you usually eat way faster than that."

"Ya, I usually do." Janna couldn't exactly argue against the accusation.

"You can stuff your face." Star urged, leaning forward. "It's not like I've never seen you do it before."

"Only if you stuff yours." Janna challenged.

Star smiled, grabbed a big ball of meat, chip and cheese with one hand and slammed it through her lips.

Janna reached over to do the same.

Star dropped the back of her hand on the table and started to shovel the nacho into a tower on her palm and flung the mess into her piehole.

Janna spread her elbows out and dug two hands in. She kept hold of the mass of food by pressuring her hands together until she could safety drop the load.

The entire thing devolved into them competing to see who could shove the most food in their mouths in the most exaggerated ways. The space between turns grew smaller until they were just munching at the same time. Chewing, grinding, not caring that the other could see the meal turn to mush in the other's jaw.

Star started to cough and Janna immediately knew why. She stood up and gave the mewman's back and big whack.

She coughed again.

Whack.

A nacho chip flung itself from Star's throat and skittered against the table. It didn't fall off, but it was close, ending up at the edge.

Janna rubbed the girl's back as she took in a deep breathe. She began to laugh again, through it was a little bit raspy.

"You're still Janna."

Janna opened her mouth.

Began she could ask, Star explained. "It's just. I wasn't really prepared for all this." She took another glance at her date. It felt like she was looking at her for the first time all over again, "Wow."

Janna sat back against the table. "It must be kind of weird seeing me like this."

"Well ya, but it's nice." Star beamed.

"Guess I was freaking out over nothing. I just thought-" Janna bit her lip, "like you suppose to be a certain way and I'm cool because I'm above all that. That's why I thought you like hanging out with me," Janna suddenly found her lap very interesting, "but that isn't me completely. This are still part of me that can be so so-"

"Girly?" Star finished for her.

"Ya. Like I love curses, I love breaking people's stuff and messing with Diaz" Janna related, "but sometimes I want to dress up and spend some time with someone I really like and was just worried."

"Worried I wouldn't like it?: Star puzzled, "Janna, I can handle girly. Marco's my best friend and he's the girliest person I know."

"Oh cool." Janna blinked, "I thought when you said no before that maybe you wouldn't be cool with it.'

"Janna. I was just being-" stupid, very very stupid, "Like my head kind of froze and I ran my mouth. I thought I was doing what I was suppose to but now I'm not sure it ever made sense." Star smacked the table. "And now I hate it cause even though we're here now, I can't take back saying 'no' before."

"Hey Star, it's okay." Janna shook her head, "You're allowed to say no and you're allowed to change your mind. That's just how things are."

"But what if I messed up everything before it began."

"Going pretty good now." Janna simpered,

"Yup, so far so good." Star nodded vigorously. Straightening her spine she announced, " Let the date commence."

"I second that motion."

* * *

Marco with a apron on, chopped up some onions and garlic. He figured at whatever the two girls outside ordered that he would need the two ingredients. He couldn't really do any other prep. "Think they're ready to order?"

He had Jackie watching them. She had her fingers gently pressed against the door as she peered out it. She couldn't really hear them, but the look the two share wasn't a bad one. They look like they'd be fine. "Let's give them a bit more time." Jackie smiled. She turned and pressed her back on the door. Her eyes floated around the room. "So where your folks?"

Marco lifted his knife and pointed proximity where he thought the front door was. "Well after the set up I think mom took dad out for a bit. Guess they felt like a date night after hearing about Janna and Star."

"Really?" Marco seemed to miss a sparkle that was in his girlfriend's eye. She interlaced her fingers together. Her thumbs pressed against one another. "Marco, I need to get something out of your room."

"What?" Marco made a final cut in the garlic before shifting his gaze at Jackie.

"Come on." She began to shake her leg. "It'll be quick."

The apron was removed and discarded on the counter. Marco figuring that Jackie would need some help, followed her upstairs. She seemed to silently imply that he would be necessary.

He thought that maybe she needed him for directions, to remind him where his room was, but when they started to hold hands, right around the time they were walking up the stairs, she started to lead him.

The two of them had taken one maybe two steps into his room when Jackie snapped back. She reached over his shoulder and gently pushed the door close until there was a small click.

"So what do you need?" Marco, who had somehow at that point not figured out what was going on, asked.

With her hands already draped over his shoulders, Jackie reached for the back of Marco's head to hold it still. She whispered to him "Has anyone ever told you that those glasses make you look really smart?"

"Thanks" Marco didn't have to be a genius to know that Jackie was close enough for for him to feel her breath. "I was kind of hoping they would."

"So what does PHD in Marco Diaz PHD stand for." Jackie's finger started to play with his hair.

"Um, pretty handsome dude?" Marco repeated something he heard some time ago.

"I'll say." Jackie laughed and step back, grabbing his hand once more. She moved only until she could sit back on his bed, but kept on pulling.

"Shouldn't we make sure the girls are okay?" He asked, but he didn't stop his body as it began to tip forward.

"I deserve to be a little bit selfish sometimes." Jackie answered as she laid on her back.

"Okay." There wasn't a complaint.

"Come here, I need some healing Doctor Diaz."

"Ha, corny."

"Shut up." She didn't give him a choice to do anything else, as she captured his lips.

* * *

Star looked back towards the house. "Where is Marco and Jackie?" It felt like thirty minutes since someone had came out to check on them.

"No point in looking for them. I think I'm just good hanging out with you." Janna twisted until she sat on her chair sideways. She leaned to her right, resting her elbow on the table.

Star saw Janna's hand resting on the table and took it in her own. "Wanna get out of here?"

"Of course, wanna help me out with something? I'm mid revenge against Diaz." With her free hand Janna pitched the side of her dress. "Gotta get him back for swapping all my clothes."

"Oh, is that why you have a new look?" Star tilted her head.

"Kinda." Janna shrugged.

"Does that mean you're not gonna keep it?"

Janna kicked her feet slightly back and forth. Keeping her body a little busy would help her think. That what she believed anyway. "I'm going honest with myself. I've treated pink like it sucked cause I thought it would make me a stereotype, but it kicks ass. I don't wanna lie about it anymore cause some assholes along time ago decided that girls love pink. Not doing something specific because someone else wants you to is still letting them control you."

"Good, cause I think you look good in pink. I like it a lot." Star made Janna scoot over as she forced the chair built for one to hold two."

"Oh cool." Janna mind seemed to blank until "It looks good on you too," spilled out her mouth.

"Thanks." Star leaned over, resting her head on Janna's shoulder. "It's a really beautiful night all the stars are out."

"Nothing special." Janna said "After all I always get to check our a Star during the day."

Star buried her face into Janna's neck. She wasn't ready for the other girl to see her face. When the heat from cheeks had passed, Star sat up and asked "Wanna talk curses, break some property and mess with Marco?"

"Kay." Janna wouldn't have rather done anything else.

* * *

Jackie didn't have the blouse she came with on, but she had a shirt. Specifically the bottom up he was wearing last night. That would suggest that something had happen. A quick glance under the blanket showed however that she still had her underwear on.

The safe kid in him sighed in relief. The entire rest of his being was tremendously disappointed.

Then again, seeing Jackie shift a bit in her sleep with a glob of droop on the corner of her mouth, Marco felt comfortable.

He was feeling domestic at the time, so he thought he'll make some breakfast before sleeping beauty got up.

He moved and a sheet of paper fell on his chest. "What's this?"

It read: Server review.

It went into detail about Jackie's role as a 'waitress' last night, as brief as it was. All of it was negative until the writing devolved in general insults. The insults as he eyed down became a bit explicit and then Star started to mention Jackie's body and they became very explicit for very different reasons.

Marco peeked under the cover to take a quick look at Jackie's hips.

He couldn't say that the review was wrong about that part.

Man, he felt lucky.

Marco stepped out of bed. He made sure to leave the hate poem on the bed where he found it before. He was sure Jackie wouldn't exactly love it, but she'd chastise it.

He left her with a quick peck on the forehead.

Scratching his chest, Marco began his day. He would skip a shower for now and just put a top on to replace the one Jackie was wearing.

"Another one?" Marco found another loose sheet, this one taped to his closet door.

Hey Diaz, time for your makeover.

This one had a crude winky face on it. Marco knew exactly who it was from.

He opened his closet.

There were no hoodies. Not a one.

Just some shirts; some button ups. Marco brought them to his chest.

They looked tight, not too small for him, just more form fitting then he typically liked in his clothes.

Still beat walking around shirtless.

Besides they were "Prussian Blue, my favorite."

* * *

 **Last two chapters will be the Marco/Star chapter and then an epilogue. Might put in a few bonus chapters after those (I have a few ideas), but that will be all of the main story.**


	7. We're all in This

**Gallifrey Denizen: What I was aiming for as the each of the quadrants, relationships are suppose to work in harmony to maximize survivability in a death world, I figured it would work well with relatively well adjusted kids.**

 **Quadrants are immediately a bit strange (basically one of the few points the writer Andrew Hussie had to drop exposition, which he hates writing cause some plot threads in Homestuck relied on them), but they do seem to be base on popular relationship tropes so that helps.**

 **Cheshirek3t:** **Marco couldn't dismiss the power of the boner. (Also I noticed a typo in that sentence. Thanks for bringing attention to that so I can fix it)**

 **Shout out to Kiden who has been posting really long reviews for each chapter that make me feel on warm and fuzzy inside. Plus it's always interesting hearing other people view on lore (Homestuck, Star VS or otherwise)**

* * *

There was squeaking. A low whine as the dry erase marker was jammed against the whiteboard. Usually it was the sole irritation that kept students awake as Miss Skullnick spent a good minute jotting down the next example problem for the kids to solve. Solve, as in blind guess.

As it was, the squeaking of the marker was being drowned out. The preparation of the problem was being dragged out. Each interruption would send Miss Skullnick's hand to spasm uncontrollable and cause her to fumble for the eraser.

Jackie giggled and the troll's hand jettisoned against the Pre-Cal equation once more, leaving a long blue streak.

The teacher rolled her eyes and sighed. It was with a rare amount of restraint that she turned around and spoke.

"Now kids." It was obvious which pair she was talking to. "I am happy for you're getting a long, but I'm also old and bitter so quit it and get back to your own desk." Her voice increased to a yell at the end of her sentence.

Jackie blinked, "Oh sorry dude," but didn't sound at all apologetic. She gave Marco one last smile as she stepped off his lap. His arm fell off her shoulder as she did.

"That is miss dude to you, you miscreants." The troll kept her eye on Thomas, perhaps fearing that the blonde would return to her original spot without the supervision.

Star waved from the back of the classroom with one hand. The princess's other hand was wrapped around her desk neighbor's. "Miss Skullnick," She sang, " What about me and Janna? Are you going to tell us to quit it?"

Star leaned over to the girl who for once in her school career actually looked bashful.

It was totally a coincidence that the whole class got a pop quiz after that.

Really.

It was a quick one, answer a ten-twenty questions, switch with a neighbor who would grade it for you as Skullnick read off the right answers. When that was done everything was passed forward for the teacher to mark it down right before handing it back.

An easy enough process though it took them the remaining half an hour before the bell had rung. The kids all shuffled their things together and marched out for lunch.

Most of them had simply stuffed the already forgotten quiz in their bag or binder. Marco wasn't most people. He held the sheet gently with two fingers, right in Janna's face.

"Read them and weep Janna." Janna couldn't see Marco's face from behind the hastily marked '100' but he didn't hide his smugness in his tone.

She cocked an eyebrow. "Diaz, are you actually showing off your test score?"

"No need to be jealous."

There was an obvious eye roll. With one motion Janna reached into her jacket pocket and flung something in the air. It seemed to had seemed random but whatever it was submitted to gravity and flung down to Marco's palm. He had caught the thing in the last possible moment. A paper football.

Marco unwrapped it carefully.

"How?" He looked at Janna.

The crumpered quiz revealed a large 110. It was hard to tell if he meant how she got bonus or how did Janna of all people went from her usual 65% to her current grade.

"Don't fret Marco" Janna smirked, "You're pretty. You don't have to be smart."

Marco gave Janna a look like he just sucked on a lemon. It was a stare broken by a random "woot."

A classmate pass them in the hallway. He cheered. "Hey Janna, love the new look. Looking good Diaz.

Marco forgot about his rival, before looking down at his new blue wardrobe. He turned giving the guy a grin. He snapped both thumbs, firing finger guns.

"Don't do that." Janna whined.

Marco fired the finger guns her way.

Another eye roll.

Star blinked.

The two blondes trailed just behind the feuding duo.

The mewmen royalty rushed for her own purse. "Jackie, what did you get?" Star huffed as she dug through the deceptively deep sack.

Jackie tilted her head back and inspected the other girl. "You wanna compare scores?

Then before Star could answer this was a sputter. Jackie almost snorted before erupting into a deep laughter.

"That's funny." Jackie wiped a tear away.

Star lips stretched out until they were a thin line.

That was the end of it at first.

* * *

Somewhere after that one hate pair got separated from the other. Marco and Janna had a hate filled lunch date in the football field. It consisted of pushing, shoving and stealing each other's food. They took turns criticizing each other's taste while building up their own cooking.

Either one wanted to admit that they had known the other would steal a bite from them. Neither did they want to admit that they worked pretty hard because of it, if only so they could prove their culinary skills out matched the other.

Near the end of the period gold hair poked out from the school building. The one of the missing members of the quartet must've finally caught up to them. Marco caught sight of it from his place on the bleachers. He jumped from his seat over a half a dozen steps.

As Star stepped out to greet her, he realized she wasn't alone.

"Jackie?" Marco saw his girlfriend. His beautiful, beautiful girlfriend. That was a welcoming sight usually, but then he looked down and he knew for a fact that she did not have a mermaid tail earlier. He wasn't the most observant but he liked to believe that he wouldn't have missed that tiny detail.

"What am I looking at?" He hoped that didn't sound offensive. He was just confused. Honestly it didn't look wrong. It actually fit Jackie pretty well. Though it would look better if she was in a bikini instead of her normal t shirt and this was definitely not a time where he had the leisure to bath in that daydream. He had to get to the bottom of things.

"Jackie has a mermaid tail." Star shrugged as much as she could pushing around a newly acquired wheelchair. Her tone gave it the same urgency of realizing someone had a new haircut.

"Yes, I notice." Marco nodded slowly. He felt like a parent shrugging for details from their kid. "Why does she have a tail?"

Jackie coughed. "Well Marco. Remember that time your arm went all wild, turned purple, probably caused Janna to browse some niche websites."

Marco said with one impatient drawn out word, "Yes." He wasn't exactly laser focused in his worry-born annoyance.

"Well Star still hasn't perfected that bone mending spell."

"What?"

"Jackie broke her leg," Star announced

"Star broke my leg," Jackie corrected

"Woah, what happened here?" Janna stepped past Diaz. Her jaw slack for a moment. She pumped a fist in the air, "Cause I want in. Give me some fangs.

"You are not helping." Marco frowned.

Stat let go of Jackie's wheelchair. "Janna." Spinning pass the device she charged into her matesprit arms wide open. She lassoed her arms behind the girl's neck and dove into a kiss.

Marco was really happy that Janna's and Star's relationship was blooming but still did they have to do that in front of him? "Gross."

In spite of or maybe because of his comment, the two girls kiss deepened.

"Alright that's enough." Marco had to dig his arms between the two girls' gut and crowbar them apart. "We're in the middle of a thing. Star, can we talk for a second?"

He grabbed her wrist and despite her call of "but lunch is about to end," it did nothing to stop Marco from dragging her away.

Jackie tapped her armrest of the chair. "Hey Janna, could you-" She trailed off.

"On it." Her friend circled around, manning the chair.

Jackie smiled, "Wanna see how fast this thing can go?"

Janna duck her head and picked up speed. "Thomas you know me too well."

"It's a full time job."

* * *

Behind the bleachers seemed as good a place as any for some privacy. After they cleared it out at least.

Marco found it already occupied. He wasn't patient at that moment and banged a fist on the metal above to clear out the seats.

One of their classmates Justin poked his head out.

"Get to class" Marco pointed to the school building.

"Okay like cheer dude." The boy whined but followed anyway.

The other half of the couple, Brittany Wong, followed with her nose in the air. She gave Marco the stink eye. "If you wanted to make out, you could've just waited your turn."

Marco and Star gave each other a look "Ew," and simultaneously shuddered.

"Anyway Star, what was that." Marco stepped underneath the bleachers and demanded an answer.

"What was what?" Star said innocently enough.

It might've fooled someone who didn't know the dimension hopper as well. Marco just crossed his arms and gave her a look of an all knowing parent.

"What I really don't know." The blonde whined.

"Like I'm pretty sure breaking people isn't your usual behavior otherwise I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on you."

Star whipped her in air and made a "pst" sound with her lips. "Jackie is fine. You saw her. She looked fine. Besides one broken leg is nothing. You should see how some of my family gatherings end."

"Star I have seen your family gatherings. Those aren't exactly normal." Even Marco knew that those gatherings weren't Mewni standard and that both sides of the family were legitimately trying to murder the other,

"and you had fun."

Marco hugged himself. "I'm just not sure I'm comfortable with you are Jackie trying to kill each other," he said, "this much."

A little bit of murderous intent was usually fine.

"You and Janna fight all the time." Star countered.

"and we haven't broke anything." A very important detail in Marco's eyes. There had been scraps and bruises obviously but there were very obvious limits to how far they would go.

Star paused for a second. Maybe to think about how next words but then she got this look on her face. It was hard to describe but the look faded making room for an opportunistic smile. "I can see that you're upset."

"More annoyed." Marco admitted hesitantly. He didn't understand what his friend's point was.

"Come here." Star stepped forward.

"What are you-"

There was a big long hush.

She moved closer.

"Star." Marco warned but his friend continued to wrap her arms around his back. "Star, what are you doing. Star quit it."

Soon she had her chin on his shoulder. Her hand rubbing his back like he was a kid.

"Marco, I'm just trying to calm you down." Star said in sort of serene tone. "You're upset."

"Star, I'm not upset" Marco said plainly.

The arm continued rubbing his back, stopping only occasional so that Star could focus on rocking him gently side to side. It was accompanied with another deep hush.

Marco glared up in the air. Clawing at the blonde's shoulders he firmly grabbed them and pushed until she was at arms length. "Star stop."

"Oh." Star stated. It seemed at just that moment seeing Marco's expression that she realized her actions was having the opposite effect she was longing for.

"What is up with you?" Marco interrogated.

Star broke away and the boy didn't much to resist her doing so. "I was trying to be a good moirail"

She turned around from Marco and in the absence or holding him she started to hold herself.

Marco's irritation faltered. "Star?

"But I might be bad at it." Star continued.

"Star, are you okay?" Marco stepped towards Star.

Star stepped away.

"if you really want to calm me down you probably don't have to wait long. I'm bound to get worked up about something." Marco tried to laugh at himself. The boy hope she would joke along with him.

"No I don't think that's a good idea." Star said. "I don't think any of this has been a good idea."

The girl took a deep breath. The air came out as a hiss and she violently shook her head before settling down.

"All of this is so fake."

* * *

Janna leaned to the left. She wanted the turns to be sharp as possible. Honestly if it was up to her she would've tried to find a hill to speed down but it was Jackie's chair.

Though the constant push did make her a bit tired.

She slowed to caught her breath. "So," she began "Things got that kinky? The whole broken leg thing."

"Star has about three times the strength of Marco with not even a third of the self control." Jackie explained and Janna couldn't argue against it. Bot that she wanted to.

"I'm trying to rein in that self control thing. Marco really needs to cut loose."

"Please do, for the both of us." Janna could feel Jackie wagging her eyebrows despite pushing behind her.

Janna tapped the back of the chair with her thumbs absentmindedly. "So I was wondering, why?"

"Why?" Jackie tried to look at her. Her neck wasn't able to make the 180 degree turn.

"Why Star?"

"Sorry."

"What?" That was clearly not the response Janna was expecting. She blinked. "Still bothered by the whole kissing my crush thing?"

"Jackie" There was a laugh, "While you were doing that, Me and Marco were walking the very thin line between trying to tear each other's throats out and trying to tear each other's clothes off. Only reason I wasn't showing him who's boss was because we were in the middle of the street."

Janna tries to lean a bit over the chair. Doing her best to look Jackie in the eye, making sure she knew that she was only happy for her other half. "I'm just curious. Like hating Star, I don't really get it."

"Makes sense." Jackie nodded slowly, "If you saw her the way I did then maybe you wouldn't be making kissy face at her. Actually no, still surprised." She double backed, "Her butt sucks at kissing."

"Neither thing really stopped you." Janna mused.

"Ya well," Jackie couldn't really argue, "I had to show her how it's done."

"So?" Janna tried to get back to her original question.

"It's kinda hard to put into words y'know." Jackie admitted, "I mean she's just bugs me so much that it just all radiates together. When did that happen?"

As short as her current relationship with Star has been, Jackie Lynn was finding it a little hard to think back when she was irked by the other girl.

Janna made a quick grunt like she finally understood before saying "You sound like I used to sound."

"Really?" Jackie blinked.

"What you think I just laid my eyes on Diaz and laser targeted all the things about him that ticked me off?" Janna joked. "No it took time, patience and a couple nights scoping out his passwords."

"I got it. It's not like I hated Star right off the bat." At least Jackie was sure there had been a time she saw something good in the princess.

"And you will only hate her more if Diaz and I are anything to go by. The hatred will grow as they find some other way to disappoint you."

"How romantic." Jackie smirked.

* * *

Star's arms crossed each other. Her fingers gripped her shoulders "Jackie was right. I just forced everyone together and I don't even know what I'm doing."

Marco stepped forward. His friend couldn't do the same. She was only an inch away from the bleachers. There was nowhere else for her to go. Marco stepped again. "Star I don't think any of us really know what we're doing. This is kind of new. Everything is going to take some time to work out."

"I'm not sure if this is going to work. If any of this is going to work."

"I thought it was going fine so far." Marco thought he was happy with mostly everything outside of the recent incident. He thought everyone else was happy to.

"You don't have to pretend Marco." Star let out a bitter laugh. "You didn't want to do this to start with but I made you anyway. All because-"

Star suddenly became silent and turned. She ended up just staring at Marco. It was as if she hoped he really notice her words.

Marco took another step. "Star. What's wrong?"

"You're going to leave me alone." Star back pressed against the bleachers. "You all are going to leave me alone."

"Before all this." She made a vague gesture. "Back at the concert. I realized that you and Jackie were going to be together and there wouldn't be room for me. When I found that book, I thought I had the answer, but I only read like five pages, Marco."

Star lunged her torso, but her feet didn't follow. Still the sudden movement was enough to surprise the boy if even for a second.

"I just wanted to keep my best friend."

"But now that everything's coming together you're trying really hard and you're not sure if things will be as you thought they were." Marco finished her sentence. When she didn't say anything, he continued, "You just wanted to be my moirail. You didn't expect to start dating both Jackie and Janna. If anything goes wrong, it might fall apart and you could end up losing three people important to you instead of one."

Star didn't want to confirm how accurate she felt he was.

Marco looked down at his toes.

Breathed deeply.

Then he burst out laughing.

He laugh so hard he had to reach up and grip onto the bleachers in order to keep himself up.

Star had expected a lot of things. This wasn't one of them.

Marco had the decency to look sheepish."I'm sorry Star. It's just all that is what I was thinking. I was afraid that when the year end you would go back home and completely forget about me."

He adopted a more neutral expression. "That kind of thing has happened to me before," he said before looking down at the grass. "That kind of thing happens to me a lot. I didn't want it to happen with you. I can't speak for Janna and Jackie, but they seem to like you a lot."

He paused for a moment, "Well like and loath, but either way I don't know where I would be right now without you Star."

"You'd be fine." Star meant it.

"Maybe but I wouldn't be who I am now. Star look at me." Marco stretched out his arms to present himself, "Don't I look different?"

"Ya" Star simply said, "You wear blue now"

"Well ya, but that's not-" Marco blinked, "I mean that I'm better now. I used to be known as the safe kid, but I've risk my neck more time in the last year then most people do in their lifetime. I used to be embarrassed to admit I love space unicorns, but now I have a toy line as a role model for girls everywhere. I spent the majority of my life just trying to talk to a girl and I don't know how it happened but now she's my-" Marco blushed a bit.

"y'know heart," Marco spared a moment to make the corresponding symbol with his hands. "I don't know what spell you used but look at me now Star. I'm the best version of me."

"Didn't cast a thing. I learn that after the whole beard thing" Star shook her head, "I didn't do a thing neither, Marco. All that was you. You punched the monster, you started the riot. You confessed to Jackie."

"Only because of you." Marco took the moment to grasp onto his moirail's shoulders. "Star, you don't have to try to make this all work. From the moment I met you, before you even found that book, you've been making me a better person. It was Pale at first sight."

Star felt a heat on her face when her Marco looked at her. It felt nice. It felt like he was proud of her.

She felt proud of him too.

Marco hugged her.

"I don't want you to go Star." Marco whispered into her hair. The words were too much. She almost felt tears in her eyes.

They both closed theirs eyes and deepened the hug. Just enjoying each other's presence.

"You motherfucking hypocrite." The moment was immediately shattered. The yell forced both of the pale mates eyes open.

The two turned to the back end of the bleachers.

"Jackie?" Marco asked.

Not quite standing there was Jackie, her hands gripping the sides of her wheelchair.

Behind her was Janna, looking a bit bashful. The second time that day. She must've been aiming for some sort of record. "Ya, sorry bout this."

The newbie mermaid was huffing. Trying desperately to wheel her chair underneath the bleachers. The wheels just kept hitting a metal bar that ran along the back of the seats. This went on for far greater then one would expect.

Eventually green eyes looked up at the only boy in the group, "Marco pick me up." Jackie demanded in a rare sour mood, "Now."

"Ya okay." Marco didn't have a habit of disagreeing with his heart and he knew that he wouldn't come out healthier if he tried to start now. He bent down and scooped her in his arms. It somehow looked both like he was a groom holding his new bride and a fisherman showing off his latest catch. "I got you"

"Face me to the princess." Jackie instructed.

Marco spun around to do just that.

Jackie nearly ended up flopping out of his grip when she met Star eye to eye. She had to hook one arm around Marco's neck to stabilize herself. Her other hand was straight in Star's face, almost pressing on her nose.

"You are a whole-fully double speaking drama queen." Jackie accused. The normally relaxed girl started to pitch up her voice. "'Who are you to decide whats make Janna happy. What would make Marco happy?'" She mocked. "Remember that Butterfly? If that is your real name."

"Yes, why wouldn't it be?" The princess commented underneath the other girl's rant.

"We're in it. See this right here." Jackie made a gesture including the four of them. "We're all in this bitch. I shed blood and tears, literally for this relationship and you somehow still found something whine about."

"but you didn't want this you were trying to make everyone happy." Star tried to defend herself.

"Does it look like my aquatic ass wants to make you happy in anyway?" Jackie clenched her hand. It looked like at any point she could backhand the other blonde in front of her. "Who told you I wanted to make you happy? Who told you this? Who told you this lie?"

"Did you summon a bird to listen to everything I say." Jackie fired off hypothetically, "Did you mishear something with the all seeing eye or god forbid did you ask me my damn opinion using your mouth?

Jackie gave Star only a second to respond. A second she was unable to utilize before Jackie pressed against her own forehead, mimicking a migraine. "You irritate me, you know that? You just irritate me so much. I mean, you literally just can't do something as simple as ask someone a question. You have unlimited magical energy and a freaking kingdom and the most basic of things is too much for you to handle. I sometimes think that you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth and unlimited cosmic power so that there will be a slim chance you wouldn't get yourself killed by age fourteen."

Enough words were flying at Star that she didn't know which statement to defend herself against first.

"It would almost be easy to sit back and let you sabotage yourself," Jackie concluded, " but y'know what? No. You don't get off that easy."

There was a look on Jackie's face. The burning angry that she had remained, but her expression was different. She was smiling. "I'm not going to just sit back and yet you continue on your path of self destruction. I'm gonna smack you like you're a four year old trying to drink bleach. I'm gonna smack every dumb idea you have out of your head and maybe just maybe we're find some good ones under all that stupid."

Jackie thought better of it. "Probably not. Either way you're not getting away from me. I am deeply committed to drilling some common sense into you for years to come." There was much emphasis put on 'years.' "Don't you ever mistake me for someone trying to make you happy cause I'm your worst enemy. Try and stop me."

Star was stunned. Her cheeks trembled. She didn't know what type of face she was trying to make until she make it.

It was a very very cocky smile. One that matched the girl in front of her.

Smiles that told the tell of how much one girl wanted to teach the other a lesson.

"Yo." Star attention was drawn elsewhere.

Janna remained where she has been standing, a bit behind Marco and Jackie. She blew a kiss at her matesprit. "You know I got you babe."

Star smiled, but Marco gave her an eye that told her he wasn't impressed.

"What?" Janna challenged the boy. "Not everyone can drop monologues on command."

Marco rolled his eyes before turning to Star. "I don't think we're going anywhere Star. You might be stuck with us."

"Guys." No one how she did it but she brought them all to her arms in one swift motion.

"Um Butterfly." Jackie said from the middle of the group hug. She was still in Marco's arms, now pinned between his chest and Star's. She groaned, "Princess, I think you're squishing me."

"That's the point." Star heartwarmingly said.

* * *

"I love you all."

In the end Star still had to leave. Everything between the four was perfect, but the powers that moved the forces of evil weren't going to yield to the princess' love life.

So despite everything Star had to stand awkwardly in the middle of the end of the year graduation party, in front of the class, her class and tell them she wouldn't be part of their lives any longer.

"Goodbye forever."

She ran. The magic that had collected in the Diaz home followed her. Her each step returned reality to how it had once been at the beginning of the year until she bragged into her room.

Marco followed her, that went without saying, but so did her matesprit and her kismet. They could've brought an army. It wouldn't have mattered. When the door opened the three stood at an abnormally normal room.

It left the teens scared, confused and in one case very angry.

"Oh princess," Jackie took one look around the now plain guest room and whispered "You're not getting away that easy."

* * *

 **Usually avoid cursing, but I found the idea of usually calm headed Jackie being the most likely to swear really funny.**

 **Next one is the epilogue. The last one. Maybe extra chapters (I actually want to do one on auspisticism, but we're see).**


	8. An Epilogue

**The first half of this chapter is actually like one of the first things I wrote for this story. I'm so happy I can finally post it.**

* * *

Chained to a wall by her wrist. Star stewed in the dungeon. The magical high commission was gone, her dad was something, flung into the sky by stolen magic and her others, her quadrant were back on Earth, safe.

That last bit mattered much more to Star then the seamlessly hopeless situation that the girl found herself in. She was in a kingdom occupied by a foreign power. Marco, Janna and even Jackie didn't share her uncertain fate. There was nothing else she could ask for.

It still sucked being a prisoner though.

Ain't gonna lie.

Star didn't have much to entertain herself. Even the rat guards out front have left, maybe they were on break or maybe Ludo just decided that Star wasn't a threat worth guarding. Either way that left her with nothing but her own thoughts and the ambient noises of the dungeon. The slight creaks and cracks that the stone made.

She could hear it. The grainy noise of a bit of rock being displaced by the structure as it turn to dust.

Then there was the scratching. Scratching and a slap. Like something clawed against the stone and then stepped.

It was crawling.

Someone was crawling around her.

Somewhere above her.

Then came the whispering.

So faint at first that Star was sure that she had imagined it, but then she heard faint but clear, "How long has it been, a week?"

It was a girl's voice.

"A week and two days and Star already ended up imprisoned?" The laugh had a heavy breath behind it. Star could still hear it clear as day. "Ya that sounds right."

"I hope she's alright." Another voice said. While the first voice was feminine, the second one was a bit masculine.

"She is." A third said, "She's cool like that."

This one was also feminine. Though distinct from the first voice. A bit more aggressive in nature despite the relatively more positive message.

"Hold on. I think I'm stuck." The masculine voice said. It same like they were coming through the wall.

"If we have to leave you behind that's a sacrifice I'm willing to have you make." The third voice said easily.

"Don't you dare." The masculine voice was a bit less masculine. "It's gross up here."

"You didn't want to go with Plan A." The third voice countered.

"Plan A was I charge in alone while you guys sit back and watch."

"Oh no. The guy who loves fighting would have to fight."

There was a bit of silence, both the voices and crawling came to an momentary stop.

"I got you." The first voice said.

"Thank you." Said the second.

There was a creaking in the stone. Dust fell from the ceiling above. It tickled Star's nose.

"I think we're here." Came the third voice.

"You sure?" The boy said.

"Definitely. Now make yourself useful."

There was a hesitant alright. "Alright."

Another pitch of dirt dropped. That was enough of an warning for the princess to close her eyes. Soon an entire block of the ceiling fell, bringing down with it rumble and dust until a body feel down on top of it.

The body groaned. It rubbed at the side of it's face, ignoring the belly flop that it had just commited it. The dust clouds started to recede away from the figure as he stood.

Star blinked. "Marco?"

"Star." The boy awed back. It was strange. He came solely for her but still felt surprised to see her. He couldn't believe his eyes.

Two more joined him. Their landing was a bit more graceful then Marco's has been.

"Star." One said.

"Princess" The other.

"It's great seeing you." It was awkward hugging someone strapped to a surface but Marco made it work anyway. If it wasn't him that it might've been Janna. Currently his behind was the only barrier between Star and the other girls.

"Quick get me out of here." The hug had been nice, but priorities.

Marco eyes widen as if he hadn't notice the blonde's perdictament until that moment. "Oh right. Jackie the key," Marco requested. He turned to the other girl, who only stood there. One hand on her hip. "Jackie?"

The teal favored girl spun said key in one hand. She had a sort of look in her eye. "How do we know she won't run away again?"

"Jackie." Marco urged.

"I mean" Jackie mused, "This way we at least know where she is."

"Jackie," A rare moment of desperation coming from Marco to the girl of his dreams.

"Fine. I'm letting her out. I'm letting her out. Just taking a second to enjoy the moment." Jackie took the time to look over Star. Her wrist probably chaffed against the metal restraints and there were many a few tiny scratches here or there, but she seemed fine. Good it would piss her off if anyone but her messed the princess up. As it was, she had a chance to take in the sight of her rival in such a vulnerable state. The blonde from earth made it obvious that she basically checking her out, eventually looking her straight in the eye, giving her a cocky smile and jiggling her eyebrows at the girl. "You don't look too bad chained up Butterfly."

Star glared back.

"Sorry Thomas" Jackie didn't have time to register what was said to her before the key somehow disappeared from her grasped and appeared right in Janna's. The filipina faced her girlfriend slipped the key into the lock. "I got you."

Janna pressed her lips against Star's and the princess showed to be more responsive to Janna's advances then Jackie's. Butterfly deepened the kiss that lasted long after the two clicks that indicated that her hands were free. Her liberated appendage just allowed her to cup Janna's cheeks as she bathed in the gesture. When they were done, Janna smiled and Star smiled back.

Next in line was Marco and Star particularly fell into their hug. The boy gave her head a small pat that fell down, gently combing her hair. She said softly to all of them, "I missed you." She chose to punctuate her statement by giving Jackie and swift kick in the shin.

The skateboarder hopped on one leg while holding the limp that was no doubt going to bruise in the future. She gave her hate friend a scowl and got a cheshire grin in return. Jackie Lynn paused for a moment and snorted, "Did you really think we were going to just let you run off?" Her expression became a bit more offended, "You know you left Janna and Marco a giant mess, and while I can handle Jan, you dropped the ball with your moirail."

As much as Star wanted to argue with Jackie, and she really did, it felt like forever since she last traded verbal blows with the girl, she had to relent. The princess turned her bestie and frown, "I didn't want to leave like that. I got as much of a warning as you guys did and it all just happened so fast."

"Star it's okay." Marco wanted to say that Jackie was overexeggerating, but honestly she was telling the truth. He had been miserable, but it all felt so distant now. "I understand."

"And besides." Janna cut in, "We're all together now."

Jackie nodded. "The four of us aren't separating again any time soon."

They all exchanged looks. It felt almost serene. Like they were all so irritated before but now that the source of the discomfort was gone they all could just relax. Jackie shook her head and broke the silence. It was a soft laughter that brought the attention of the others.

"Come on. We can't stand here all day." Jackie cracked the doorway and took a peek out to the hall. We got to figure some way to get us out of this. "For once, tell me you have a plan princess."

"Yes. You guys have to get me to Ludo."

* * *

That was months before. Star got to Ludo. She faced Toffee in the realm of Magic and when both emerge back to Mewni, the princess liquified the villian with the newly born magic that she had brought into the world.

After that the four had the summer of their lives in Mewni. Nothing as exciting as the near death experience they had while saving the kingdom but still a fun way to past the the time as they explored the world themselves and each other.

It was eventually time to go however.

River smiled up at one of the two girls that followed his daughter to the middle of a war. "It's good to know that Star has such good friends looking out for her."

The three guest stood in the halls of the castle with only the King for company as they waited for the last of their quartet to see them off.

"Ya." Janna, the pink clad girl was so overwhelmed with joy that she had trouble expressing any emotion. At least that what River deduced. "Friends."

"If anyone of you wanted to consider yourself knights of the kingdom then go ahead. You earned it. In fact" The king snapped his fingers and with no delay a servant was at his side. There was a small wooden chest in his hands. The stout man cracked the container open and he pulled from it a long blue cloth. His servant left soon after. "In fact, here, have this cape."

Janna looked down at the material draped across her arm, obviously rendered speechless. So excited was the two that the green eyes girl spoke above her.

"Thank you very much your majesty" Jackie said giving a polite smile.

"Think nothing of it." River beamed at her before moving on to the last of his daughter's companions.

Janna and Jackie huddled amongst themselves. They made sure to speak softly. Well not too softly, but the king ignore them either consciously or subconsciously.

"Man I don't wanna be a knight." Janna groaned. She lifted her arm to empathize how little she thought of the cape forced upon her. "They're lame. All of them got taken down by some rats."

"What should we do with this?" Jackie was all for suggestions. She sniffed. The gift smelled weird.

"Burn it."

Whatever joy the king had on his face died when he came to the only boy of the group. "Marco."

"King River." The boy awkwardly greeted.

The king looked at him.

He looked at the king.

Then the grown man averted his eyes to one side and gently coughed into his fist.

"Well" River said unprompted. "Very good."

The lord at least made an effort to leave in good spirits. Patting the boy on the shoulder before making a 180 degree turn. He marched along away from the party.

Something touched Marco's arm. Jackie was lightly capturing his right side, his arm and shoulder in her arms. "Things still awkward with you and the king?"

"Ya." He felt obligated to answer despite how obvious it was.

"That just what'll happen when Star starts papping you post battle right in the middle of the field." Jackie didn't want to smirk at her love one's pain, especially considering how justifiable upset Marco had been. The memory brought her happiness anyway considering how it left Star flatfooted.

"Ya."

"Oh the princess looked so mortified after she did." Jackie's smirk grew to a sinister smile. How red had the mewman royalty gotten? It was hard to tell if she had been struck shy because of what it must've looked to her folks or what it actually had been in reality. Admittedly even she felt embarrassed at how blazen Star momentarily became in her soothing the boy. "I think I have a picture."

Jackie let go out him to dig for her phone.

"Guys." Suddenly their fourth was there. The girl that had left them and the girl they had followed. Star was in rare form, her royal blue dress.

"Well" Marco tried to smile. It didn't help. "Guess it's time for us to head back."

The dress Star wore did nothing to stop her from launching herself into his arms. He didn't falter from it. He gave as good as he got.

It was tight and the only thing that could break the union was that she hadn't hugged Janna yet.

She quickly remedied that.

The two girls coiled around each other, letting just enough slack so that they could look into each other's eyes.

"Can't we just hang out here?" Janna said it as a whim. She also said it was a sort of plead to no one in particular.

Marco responded to it regardless. He aimlessly spun his scissors around his finger. "Janna, we have school in like a week."

"Okay." Janna suddenly smiled. It felt like Marco had unknowingly taken the bait. "I'm workshopping an idea"

"No" To whatever it was.

"Hear me out" Janna said, though it was clear she was going to go on no matter what.

"No."

"We skip school." Janna dropped and felt immediately elated.

"Janna"

"We skip the entire year."

"Janna!"

"Well it's only a suggestion." Marco looked immensely confused as Jackie scrolled to his side. She gently traced her fingers against his arm. "There's no harm in thinking about it."

"Jackie?"

"Plus it would be funny" The skateboarder broke her posture as she made that confession.

"Oh no no no." Marco put extra oomph into the Os. "You girls are not dragging me into anything else."

"Come on Diaz." Pretty in pink, Janna whined. She pressed noises with the girl in her mitts. She was rewarded with the cutest of giggles. "I just got my girl back."

"We've been here for like 2 months." Marco crossed his arms.

"I'm gonna miss her." Janna said it to Marco but she coo it at Star. Her head waved a bit as she continued rubbing noses with Star.

Star backed her head a but only so she could argue, "I'm gonna miss you" as she booped Janna on the nose

"Nah, I'm gonna miss you." There was a rival boop.

"I'm gonna miss you"

"I'm gonna-"

"Stop it." Marco demanded before the two got further into the cycle.

"I did say we wouldn't separate." Jackie fluttered her eyebrow as she rehashed the implied promise those months a go.

" l have scissors." Marco spun the tip of said blades into a circle with one hand. "Distance isn't a thing anymore. There's nothing stopping us from hanging out everyday. It'll literally take me longer to walk to one of your houses from mine then it will to open a portal to the castle."

Jackie nodded slowly like she had to admit that it was a good point, "but we're still be worlds apart. It's symbolic Marco." She cracked her facade once again. "It symbolizes that we don't want to go to school."

"We don't need no education." Janna escaped Star's charm long enough to bellow.

"Okay okay, enough joking." Marco waved it off as if they would settle them down, "And by the way it's 'we don't need any education.'"

"Hey Star," Janna swirled her chin towards Star in an all so casual way, "correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Marco take GED exams for fun?"

"Don't know if I should be sharing things we talk about in the pile." Stat grinned ear to ear, fully aware of the flaw of her statement.

"No." Marco put his foot down.

Janna rubbed her chin, "and I basically already know what they're going to teach us for the next few years."

"No"

Jackie oooed "I got my studies down," before recoiled. She hissed slightly like she skinned an elbow, "Mostly. I might need some help with Math."

"No."

"Ha." Star pointed at Jackie, lunging at her as much as she could while still cradle in Janna's arm. "Marco and Janna are going to have to tutor you."

There was a resigned sigh.

Jackie shot back. Her hands on her hips. Her back bent as she eyed the other blonde. "Better than the highschool dropout, Princess."

"but I'm gonna have queen lessons." The princess whined. She actually flinched.

"That sounds kind of like an excuse." Jackie straighten back again smirking. It was an obvious challenge.

"Marco, can you please tutor me?"

"Fine." Marco groaned. In truth they had already won him out some time ago, but now he knew that they knew. "Plan to skip highschool is ago."

It was either surrender than or surrender in one or two days.

He still pretended not to be absolutely thrill and they allowed him that. Marco could shake his head like he was the only sane one left as they cheered.

Marco could only question when his life got so strange as the four of them exchange delight at the crafting of their next plot.

It probably began when a girl from another world came to Earth, but probably more so when that girl found a book on alien romance.

* * *

 **Hey, my behind can actually finish a chapter story.**

 **Though rather or not I'm done with the setting is up for fate to decide. (Still might do a bonus chapter) I've at least made have an conclusion of sorts.**

 **It was fun.**


End file.
